Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Brian Hioe
HONGKONGERS AND ALLIES demonstrated in Taiwan this afternoon to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. This was termed “Freedom June.” The protest was bookended by rain at its start and beginning, with heavy rain warnings issued across Taiwan today.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
The demonstration began under the archway of Liberty Plaza, with participants gathering at 1:30 PM. A few days prior, on June 4th, commemorations for the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre took place. Although it has sometimes been debated in Hong Kong in past years as to whether Hongkongers should commemorate the Tiananmen Square Massacre when they do not necessarily see themselves as Chinese, since 2019, commemorations for June 4th in Taiwan have featured a significant presence by Hongkongers.
The formal proceedings began at 2 PM. After comments by several speakers, including DPP legislator Hung Sun-han, a speaker truck led demonstrators on the march route. This was a route that led mostly northwest, past the Presidential Office, into the Ximen area, and ended at the Nishi Honganji Remains, a former shrine during Japanese colonial times.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
Once the demonstration arrived at the Nishi Honganji Remains, a number of further speeches were held. Booths for Hongkonger groups, Amnesty International Taiwan, and other civil society groups were set up at the Nishi Honganji Remains. A Lennon Wall, on a backdrop resembling a Facebook feed, was also set up for participants to leave messages.
Speakers included representatives of Hongkonger groups in Taiwan, such as the Taiwan Hong Kong Association, as well as Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong. Such speakers often reflected on their personal acquaintance with the Hong Kong 47, many of which face legal charges over being involved in organizing primaries for the pan-democratic camp in Hong Kong, and in this way participating in democratic institutions that used to be the norm. Likewise, speakers discussed their identities as Hongkongers in Taiwan, referring to themselves as now being “new migrants in Taiwan.”
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
Taiwanese speakers included Lee Ming-che, the human rights activist who was imprisoned by China for over five years on charges of “subverting the state.” Taiwanese speakers often commented on how they viewed Hong Kong as a community of shared destiny with Taiwan, in opposition to the CCP’s claims over both. To this extent, the Taiwanese government was called on to make measures for asylum laws, which currently do not exist in Taiwan. This has been an obstacle to Hongkongers seeking asylum in Taiwan in the past.
Otherwise, the recent Bluebird Movement came up on a number of occasions. Speakers reflected on how they and participants in today’s demonstration had also taken part in the Bluebird Movement, as well as how it showed that Taiwan still continues to face threats to its political freedoms.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
To close off the demonstration, performances of “Do You Hear the People Sing?, and “Glory to Hong Kong” were played by a band. “Glory to Hong Kong” was played twice, with a quicker tempo during the second run. The band that played these songs was assembled from activists, rather than being a pre-existent group.
The 2019 Hong Kong protests were among the largest demonstrations by proportion of the population in modern history, with around two million participants out of a population of 7 million at the peak of the protests. Even so, the deterioration of political freedoms in Hong Kong has continued since then, with the passage and expansion of national security laws by the increasingly hardline Hong Kong government.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
While Hong Kong loomed large as a political issue in the 2020 election cycle, there has been less discussion of Hong Kong in the years since in Taiwan. The Tsai administration was sometimes criticized for not doing enough to assist Hongkongers, in spite of pledging to do so for the sake of electioneering in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, and public opinion seems to have turned to some extent against the idea of providing further aid to Hongkongers with the view that Hong Kong is now simply no different than any part of China. It remains to be seen what forms of advocacy could potentially again sway social opinion.