Issue Briefing No. 59

Hong Kong Activism from thePerspective of Journalism andCultural Ideas
Interviewer and author: Sulastri(Master’s student, School of International and Public Policy, HitotsubashiUniversity)
March 28, 2024

*This paper was written based on an interview conducted on February 27, 2024.

Patrick Poon, a member of the Milk
Tea Alliance Japan, was born during Hong
Kong's economic boom. Poon was a part ofthesecond

generationofresidents

towitness the city's transformation into aprosperous hub. It was a period when people
jokedabouttheheydaybabies.

Hischildhood was heavily influenced by Catholicteachings and awareness of the politicalsituation in China. The times coincided withthe Tiananmen Massacre crackdown; andwhat happened in Beijing and other parts ofChina resonated in Hong Kong. The turning
point for Poon came at the very young age of 12, when he stepped into themovement and joined a mass protest of over 1 million people.
“Even though Hong Kong was still a British colony at this point, we felt
very concerned about what would happen after Hong Kong’s handover toChina in 1997; it was 8 years before the handover.” He continued, “People1

Hong Kong Activism from the Perspective of Journalism and Cultural Ideas

Issue Briefing No. 59
would talk about what they can actually do and what should be avoided,
knowingthesituationin

BeijingandotherpartsofChina.”

Suchconversations reflected the mentality of people in Hong Kong during thattime when attention was split between pop culture and sometimes, politics,
not because people necessarily wanted to but because they felt the need tounderstand the changes ahead of them.
After the handover, the situation in Hong Kong was stable until 2003
when 500,000 people demonstrated against the Article 23 laws, concerning
the governmental limitations on freedom. After the National Security Law wasimplemented in 2020, Poon, who just left his job as a China Researcher ofAmnesty International and was volunteering as a board member with nongovernmental organizations in Hong Kong at the time, experienced morepressure and uncertainty. As an NGO management executive, he and others
were paralyzed by fear of being arrested for voicing opinions in public orhanding out flyers. Many human rights organizations were forced to selfcensor because of the unsafe environment, which limited their advocacy. The
pressure of what happened to the Apple Daily symbolized the future ofjournalism in Hong Kong. Despite these worries, Poon made the decision toleave Hong Kong in order to be able to continue working on human rights
issues. “They would get more used to the mainland government (re)placing
the government. Something what I’m concerned about, in addition to safety,
is actually that ‘brainwashing’ of people on how they should respond togovernment policies would become normalized in the future.” He added, “For
us who are now living overseas, the most we can do is continue to tell theHong Kong story, tell others what happened in Hong Kong and then try ourbest to see what we can do to maintain.”
In Hong Kong, a limited degree of freedom is felt due to pressure fromother governments, but the Hong Kong government and the Chinese
Government will always protest such foreign interventions. Additionally, theseparation

betweenAsian

democracy and Western democracy
points to the idea of socialism – theideology that China adopted, which
in fact originally came from the West– while they talk about this idea fromacultural

whichisrelativistperspective,questionable.

TheCommunist Chinese regime always
emphasizes the “Chineseness” of everything, including socialism. However,2

Hong Kong Activism from the Perspective of Journalism and Cultural Ideas

Issue Briefing No. 59
such emphasis would only distort the original meaning of these concepts andcater for the needs of the authoritarian regime for claiming its legitimacy.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong and China are after all part of the international
community, and there is no reason for not adhering to the international
standards and separating themselves from outside involvement, because
abiding by these principles is an inherent obligation of the international
community.
Poon expressed concerns about cultural erosion in Hong Kong under
Chinese influence, citing the example of the Cantonese-speaking community
vs. Mandarin that has begun taking over. This is crucial as Hong Kong faces
challenges in maintaining its multicultural identity given mainland China’s
influence

inpromoting

nationalismandpatriotism in Hong Kong. Poon’s academic focus
challenges the definition of "Chineseness" andexplores cultural identity: whether we define aperson as Chinese by blood or by the culture
they grew up in? And then what about people
who are ethnically “Chinese” but don’t speak
Chinese and grew up in non-Chinese cultural
background, or what about people who are notethnically

Chinesebut

culturally

identify

themselves as “Chinese”?
As part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China based in the UK,
Poon engages in global lobbying to highlight the importance of Hong Kong,
China, and human rights to politicians. Emphasis is on raising awarenessamong legislators globally, influencing local and international discussions,and shaping laws impacting China, including Tibet, Mongolia, Hong Kong, andTaiwan. Simultaneously, the 29 Principles organization focuses on protecting
lawyers’ rights and emphasizing their roles in civil society in China and Hong
Kong, particularly in human rights cases. Poon's involvement with the Lady
Liberty Hong Kong and the Hong Kongers’ community in Japan aims to raiseawareness in Japanese society, countering the potential depiction of China's
Hong Kong model as a success. The message conveyed is, "Don't think it's
distant, because if China's model with Hong Kong succeeds, questions may
arise about the need for a democratic system."

3Hong Kong Activism from the Perspective of Journalism and Cultural Ideas

Issue Briefing No. 59
The Milk Tea Alliance JapanThe Milk Tea Alliance Japan is the space where we can add the global
dimension not only for Hong Kong, but also other countries like Thailand,
Taiwan, and Japan. This space was very much needed, and we should notunderestimate the importance of sharing stories and experiences. Poonshowed interest in seeing how independent media, for instance, in the region
can help each other, especially since the Milk Tea Alliance Japan already has
members who work in independent journalism. As a former journalist himself,
he viewed this as important. “We can work on freedom of expression andprotection of media and independent media and journalism in the region. We
should not let people forget about Hong Kong as if nothing happened, while
life goes on. We don’t want the same thing to happen to other countries too.”Poon’s closing words were especially for Hong Kong's youth who are
passionate about upholding freedom. Despite the current challenges,
discussions still continue, reflecting the resilience of the community. The
authoritarianregimehas

never last long in the face ofpeople's unwavering pursuitof freedom and empowerment.
Heemphasizes

theimportance of perseverance,reminding us that as long asefforts

continue,

hopeforprogress and positive changeremains alive.

4

Hong Kong Activism from the Perspective of Journalism and Cultural Ideas

Issue Briefing No. 59
Patrick Poon Profile
Patrick has been working in various NGOs since 2004. He was a court
reporter with the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong in 2000-2003. Hehas been a researcher with Amnesty International’s International Secretariat(2013-2020), mainly covering human rights defenders in China and humanrights violations in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. He was theexecutive

secretary(2007-2012),

boardmember(2012-2020)

andconsultant (2021) of Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers
Concern Group, which was disbanded under the pressure of the Hong KongNational Security Law. He was a board member of Amnesty InternationalHong Kong in 2009-2013 and the executive secretary and board member(2009-2013) of Independent Chinese PEN Center. He was a visiting scholar
at the Department of Chinese Studies of St. Andrews University in Scotland
in June-August 2021, a visiting researcher at the Institute of Comparative
Law of Meiji University in Tokyo in 2022-2023, Japan and currently a visiting
researcher of the University of Tokyo. He is an advisor of the UK-based “The29 Principles” which supports human rights lawyers in China and Hong Kong,a board member of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), and advisorof Tokyo-based Asian Lawyers Network (ALN). He is pursuing his PhD at theInstitute of Transtextual and Transcultural Studies at the University of Lyon,
France.

5Hong Kong Activism from the Perspective of Journalism and Cultural Ideas