By Ann Wang
TAIPEI (Reuters) – A new magazine in support of Hong Kong’s struggle for democracy is reaching the diaspora and those still living in the former British colony, offering clear comments on Taiwan’s security, where it is published.
Democratic Taiwan has emerged as a place of refuge for some Hong Kongers, to Beijing’s anger, especially after China’s application of a tough new national security law in Hong Kong last year.
In Chinese, the new quarterly magazine is called “be water”, in honor of a tactic that protesters used to escape the Hong Kong police and inspired by a maxim from martial arts legend Bruce Lee that encourages them to be flexible or amorphous.
The first edition came out in January.
Called Flow HK in English, the magazine’s editor-in-chief is exiled activist Sunny Cheung, and her editorial board includes other well-known activists.
Chiang Min-yen, a Taiwanese activist who works in the magazine’s small office in Taipei and also serves on the editorial board, told Reuters that the publication wants to provide a forum for discussion and how to continue the fight for freedom and democracy.
“People are thinking about what’s next for Hong Kong and what the people of Hong Kong can do – how people can support Hong Kong and oppose the Communist Party’s authoritarianism,” he added.
The magazine encourages Hong Kong subscribers to obtain the electronic version due to security concerns that the police may find a physical copy in people’s homes.
Hong Kong officials say freedom of speech and that of the media are intact, but they say national security is a red line.
National security law punishes anything that China considers to be subversion, secessionism, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with a life sentence.
In his play for the inaugural edition, Cheung urges people not to give up, saying that the resistance movement is like a buried chain of fire ready to become a river.
“Hong Kong foreigners must fight and they will not give up on the dream of returning home. If you are not free in Hong Kong, what is the use of freedom?”
(Reporting by Ann Wang; Writing and additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)