The Milk Tea Alliance: Exploring Sites of Transnational Solidarities in East and Southeast Asia

Report from Wichuta Teeratanabodee, Autumn 2023 Award Recipient

Image: ‘A portrait of Joshua Wong (one of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protest leaders), a Tibetan flag, and Rohingya food—all captured together in a cosmopolitan ‘democracy-loving’ bar in Bangkok, Thailand, during a movie screening about the Rohingya’. Photo by Wichuta Teeratanabodee

Wichuta is examining the formation of the Milk Tea Alliance (MTA), a digital transnational network among pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong, Thailand, Myanmar, and Taiwan. The Research Impact Award enabled Wichuta to visit Chiang Mai and Bangkok, Thailand to conduct interviews with pro-democracy protestors and activists, meet scholars, participate in political protests, and visit activist and/or progressive spaces, including art exhibitions.

Wichuta reports:

Recent pro-democracy movements in East and Southeast Asia, including those in Thailand, Hong Kong, Myanmar, and Taiwan, were primarily driven by domestic issues. However, protestors in these regions also formed connections, leading to the emergence of a transnational solidarity network known as the Milk Tea Alliance. My research explores online and physical sites of transnational solidarities and their relationship with pro-democracy movements in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and beyond.

While social media is often credited for helping activists connect, exchange tactics, and collaborate across borders, there are also critical physical spaces fostering transnational solidarities, such as pro-democracy publishing houses, cafes, bars, museums, and art exhibitions. These spaces serve not only as venues for activism but also as intellectual, political, and social hubs. Importantly, they propagate and shape transnational solidarities, particularly during the “in-between” periods of movements.

By examining the political roles and transnational connections of these cosmopolitan spaces, my project situates the pro-democracy movements in Thailand, Hong Kong, Myanmar, and Taiwan within a shared narrative of resistance to authoritarianism. It emphasises how these movements transcend the artificial boundaries between “East Asia” and “Southeast Asia,” offering a more integrated perspective on regional democratic struggles.

Wichuta Teeratanabodee is a PhD candidate in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Politics and International Studies. Their research focuses on transnational movements and solidarities in East and Southeast Asia. Wichuta was previously a researcher at RSIS, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, where they worked on norms and governance of military technologies, and a risk analyst at TikTok.