Moving Beyond Projection: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the China Factor

Abstract

Activists from Taiwan and Hong Kong have long seen common cause in one another. Apart from the fact that both face threats from the Chinese government, there is also a generational link between many Taiwanese and Hong Kong activists. While there are similarities between both places, there is no shortage of political projection between Taiwan and Hong Kong about each other’s respective political contexts. How can we move beyond political projection between both sides, insofar as this is unlikely to lend itself to acts of transnational connection genuinely effective for building an international left? We must dig deeper into our history of exchange and be attentive to the challenges in our present and future, to move beyond projection and into building power.