The political situations in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Burma are radically different. Only Burma is in a state of civil war. Only Hong Kong has changed in just a few years from a place with virtually no political prisoners to one with many. Only Thailand is a monarchy with lèse-majesté laws. Yet, many young activists and exiles from these regions feel that their struggles are connected.

Historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom met dozens of dissidents, including Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, known for his protests against compulsory Thai military service; Agnes Chow, co-founder of a political party now banned in Hong Kong; and Ye Myint Win (aka Nickey Diamond), who fled to Germany from Burma in the early 2020s, fearing reprisal from the junta for his human rights work. Activists like these three express solidarity with one another online and on the streets, and sometimes refer to themselves as belonging to the “Milk Tea Alliance,” a nod to their shared opposition to nationalistic Beijing loyalists and the fact that their cultures’ iconic drinks contain dairy, unlike mainland China’s traditional tea.

Join YCW NY on Monday June 9, 2025 from 6:00 – 8 PM for a discussion with historian Jeffery Wasserstrom on his upcoming book The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing, which explores the unique situations that these activists face respectively and their shared solidarity despite geopolitican differences.

STUDENTS! Contact us for a free student ticket by emailing us at newyork@youngchinawatchers.com from your .edu email address.

About the Speaker

Jeffrey Wasserstrom is Chancellor’s Professor of History at UC Irvine, where he also holds courtesy affiliations in Law and Literary Journalism. Holder of a B.A. from UC Santa Cruz, a master’s from Harvard, and a doctorate from Berkeley, he has written, coauthored, edited or coedited more than ten books. His most recent books are: Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink (2020) and China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, updated third edition coauthored with Maura Elizabeth Cunningham (Oxford, 2018). In addition to writing for academic journals, Wasserstrom has contributed to many general interest venues, e.g., the New York Times, the TLS, and the Wall Street Journal. He is the co-editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books China Section. He served as a consultant for two prize-winning Long Bow Film Group documentary, was interviewed on camera for the film “Joshua; Teenager vs. Superpower,” and is a former member of the Board of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.