Back in Bangkok, even the flavour Netiwit chose for his cookies – milk tea – was symbolic. In April, the hashtags #MilkTeaAlliance and #MilkTeaisThickerThanBlood trended on Twitter in Asia, in reference to the sweet drink that is popular in both Thailand and Hong Kong, with users also mentioning solidarity with the self-ruled island of Taiwan.

Model’s comment sparks Twitter war between Thais and Chinese nationalists

For some Thais, criticism of Beijing stems from their own suspicions of military authoritarianism in Thailand. By drawing inspiration from the pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan, it is easy for “the youth in Thailand to have the same mentality” as their counterparts in these places, according to Sitthiphon Kruarattikan, an associate professor and director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at Thammasat University.

Last year’s elections were widely seen as an extension of the military’s influence in Thai politics, with some saying at the time that the polls were rigged. The results legitimised Prayuth, with the help of a military-backed political party and the junta-appointed Senate which has the power to vote in the prime minister and veto legislation.

Prayuth’s tenure continues to be marked by alleged attempts to undermine and harass critics and opponents. The Constitutional Court’s decision in February to dissolve the opposition Future Forward party – wildly popular among the young for its call to end the military’s role in Thai politics – and ban its leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from politics was seen as politically motivated.

Jutatip Sirikhan, a 21-year-old Southeast Asian Studies major at Thammasat University who is also a member of a nationwide network of student activists known as the Student Union of Thailand, said Thais “understand how the rights of those in Hong Kong are being taken away because we have faced the same thing”.

On June 4, she co-organised a gathering in Bangkok’s Chinatown at which several protesters carried yellow umbrellas – a reference to the “umbrella movement” of civil disobedience for universal suffrage in 2014 that was also known as Occupy Central – with the words “Free Hong Kong” on them.

In a statement, the union said it condemned Beijing’s new security law for the city, which “put an end to the citizens’ struggle to protect democratic values in Hong Kong”.

TIES, DEPENDENCE AND KINSHIP

Netiwit, who counts Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong as a friend, said he could see China’s economic presence in Thailand but “not the human dimensions”.

“For the young generation, China has an image of a profit seeker with a large population as a weapon. It is a very economy-focused image, so it is not appealing to the young,” he said.

Since 2014, the Prayuth administration has deepened ties with China through increased mega-project investment – such as the 224 billion baht (US$7.14 million) high-speed rail project connecting the airports at Suvarnabhumi, Don Muang and U-tapao which was awarded to a consortium whose members included the Chinese state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation – firm relocations, trade and arms deals, including US$1.03 billion for three Chinese diesel-electric submarines and 48 battle tanks.

China claimed the latter crown last year after surpassing Thailand’s long-time biggest investor Japan for the first time. Between 2016 and 2019, Chinese investment applications grew by more than 200 per cent, according to Kasikorn Research Centre.

More than 12,000 Chinese companies are now registered in Thailand, with Kasikorn estimating that the number of Chinese working, studying and travelling in the country equates to 15 per cent of its 66.5- million population. This has given rise to a new “Chinatown” in Bangkok’s Ratchada and Huai Khwang areas, in addition to the historic one at Yaowarat, and spawned local trade and logistics businesses that cater to Chinese.

A sense of closeness between the two countries was invoked in April by the Chinese embassy in Bangkok when it issued a statement on social media following on from the #MilkTeaAlliance hubbub.

The embassy said China and Thailand were “one family” and the comments made online “only reflect bias and ignorance of [their] makers, which does not in any way represent the stance of the Thai government nor the mainstream public opinion of the Thai people”.

Sitthiphon, the Institute of East Asian Studies’ director, said that while “political or business leaders” in both countries might share this sense of brotherhood, “there is still a gap of perception among the young generation” in Thailand, despite China’s attempts to communicate kinship.

“The Prayuth government has never been well-received among young Thais and because China never condemns coups in Thailand, there’s a negative perception towards China among the young, which is why they feel that the call for democracy in Taiwan and Hong Kong is more suited to their current sentiment,” he said.

For Netiwit, the student activist, while a literal kinship does exist among Thais and Chinese, “a sense of brotherhood is shared by [all] the citizens of the world, not just between our nations”. China’s concern then, according to Sitthiphon, could be that Thailand’s younger generation – its future leaders – “might not uphold a sense of brotherhood between the two countries like the previous generation”.

This despite Thai students’ interest in studying Mandarin and pursuing their higher education in China, which Aksornsri – the economics lecturer and China specialist – said had skyrocketed in recent years.

As of 2018, there were 28,608 Thai nationals studying in China, according to its education ministry, the second-largest group of foreigners after South Koreans.

Jutatip, the Southeast Asian studies major and activist, said many of her friends were “not politically active” and simply wanted to learn Mandarin to expand their employment opportunities – a thought that was echoed by Aksornsri.