Caption: Thai student activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal and his fellow activists made an appearance at a movie theatre with signs read ‘#BanMulan’ and ‘#MilkTeaAlliance.’

Today (4 September) is the release date of the film Mulan with Liu Yifei as protagonist, but last night the hashtag #BoycottMulan soared to no.4 in Thailand’s twitter as Thais join the Milk Tea Alliance to ban it in support of Hong Kong protesters.

Yesterday (3 September) Thai student activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal posted on social media a picture of him and his fellow activists at a movie theatre. With signs reading ‘#BanMulan’ and ‘#MilkTeaAlliance’, he asked people to join the movement in support of Hong Kong protesters.

“We have still not forgotten that Mulan’s leading actress supported the police use of violence against Hong Kong protesters who fight for freedom and democracy” said Netiwit on Twitter. “I would like to invite everybody to #BoycottMulan, #BanMulan, so that Disney and the Chinese government realize that state violence against the people is something that cannot be accepted.”  

As of today Netiwit’s tweet has 47.8k shares and 10.6 likes. Many have said they will join the boycott.

“When I first saw the trailer release I really wanted to watch it,” said one Twitter user. “Then the leading actress came out to support the crackdown on the protests of Hong Kong people and use of violence. I no longer think of watching, no matter how much I want to. #BoycottMulan” 

Caption: 'Thailand supports Hong Kong', a Facebook page with 12,000 followers in Thailand, posted a photoshopped picture of Liu Yifei with a communist badge. Her police shield and baton soak with blood. 

Caption: เชื่อGUไปดูเลย, a Thai movie reviewer page on Facebook, posted a campaign picture calling for Thais to boycott Mulan.

According to the BBC, Liu Yifei shared a Weibo post from the People’s Daily back in mid-August. The People’s Daily is a government-run newspaper based in Beijing.

The post said in Chinese “I also support Hong Kong police. You can beat me up now.” The quote was said to be the words of a reporter for Global Times, an English-language newspaper under the People’s Daily.

People’s Daily added a message in English to the post saying “What a shame for Hong Kong”, to which Liu Yifei echoed by saying “I also support Hong Kong police.”

Twitter is banned in China, but the hashtag #BoycottMulan soared on Twitter after her post back in mid-August.

Police brutality in Hong Kong has been condemned by the international community. Back in June, Man-Kei Tam, Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, said that the response from police was “excessive” and “a violation of international law.”

“Tear gas and projectiles like rubber bullets are notoriously inaccurate and indiscriminate and can result in serious injury and even death,” said Man-Kei Tam.

Caption: #BoycottMulan soared to no.4 in Thailand’s twitter as Thais join the Milk Tea Alliance to ban it in support of Hong Kong protesters.

Meanwhile, Thais also have a struggle of their own as they are required to stand up and pay respect to King Vajiralongkorn before every movie starts. Many reportedly said on social media that more people are not standing up.

Recently, Thailand has also seen ongoing protests calling for constitutional amendments and monarchy reform. On 16 August, the largest protest in 6 years was held on Ratchadamnoen Avenue. A conservative estimate shows that more than 10,000 protesters joined. As part of the Milk Tea Alliance, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law tweeted out in solidarity with Thailand.

The Milk Tea Alliance emerged in April 2020 after a Thai actor Vachirawat “Bright” Chivaaree, whose work has been popular in China, was criticized and boycotted by Chinese nationalists for reposting an image on Twitter which included Hong Kong as a country.

Despite his apologies, his girlfriend Weeraya “New” Sukaram also came under attack for a post back in 2017 which hinted that Taiwan was an independent country. The criticism from Chinese nationalists backfired as the populace in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan united behind the democratic cause and the fight against China’s growing dominance in Asia.

Pre-Milk Tea Alliance relations

Before the existence of Milk Tea Alliance, Thai activists and Hong Kong activists had been in some form of contact.

In 2016, Joshua Wong was barred from entering Thailand. He was invited by Netiwit to give a talk about politics of the new generation at an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 6 October massacre.

In October 2019, opposition politician Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit went to an Open Future Festival organized by the Economist in Hong Kong. He met Joshua Wong and had a brief talk with him for 5 minutes. A picture taken at that time was leaked, leading to criticism by pro-government supporters as unpatriotic as they claimed it showed that Thanathorn welcomed foreign interference.

The Thai government has supported the Hong Kong government amid Hong Kong’s ongoing protests. In November 2019, Carrie Lam paid a visit to Thailand and signed 6 MOUs with the Thai government to help Hong Kong investors suffering from the Sino-US trade war and the ongoing protests.

Somkid Jatusripitak, the then Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand responsible for the economy, paid a visit to Hong Kong in October 2019 in order to draw foreign investments to Eastern Economic Corridor. In July 2020, Somkid resigned from his post amid Thailand’s economic decline worsened by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Thai government also tried to discredit Hong Kong protesters to discourage protests in their own country. In October 2019, Royal Thai Army chief Gen Apirat Kongsompong made xenophobic allegations against Joshua Wong claiming that he had paid many visits to Thailand with an unknown agenda. Apirat also said the Hong Kong protests hurt the city as a tourist spot and encouraged Thais not to do the same. 

In response, Joshua Wong told Prachatai English in October last year that his only successful trip to Thailand was when he was 10 years old on a family trip with his parents to Bangkok. He also said that if Thai government did the same to Thai protesters, they will do the same as Hong Kong protesters.

“Hong Kong is suffering from the threat from Beijing. And when the Army Chief asked Thai youth not to do the same, my only response is if the government in Thai[land] do the same, the youth in Thai[land] they will do the same as Hong Kong youngsters did in the past four months. So it depends on the authorities instead of depend[ing] on us.”