Wed, May 27, 2026 page8

• EDITORIAL: No one is an island

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  Taiwanese illustrator Chuchumei (啾啾妹) was told she was not allowed to take part in the Hong Kong Illustration and Creative Show just two days before the exhibition started on Saturday last week. Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao reported that the illustrator published a cartoon on social media in October 2019 depicting characters wearing black shirts and black helmets.

  That year, pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong protesting an extradition bill wore black shirts, not just in solidarity with and remembrance of those who lost their lives, but also to maintain their anonymity to avoid political persecution. They wore helmets to protect themselves from the weapons of police brutality — batons, rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas, to name a few. That is why black shirts and helmets, just like umbrellas and masks, carry symbolic meaning: resistance against tyranny.

  Chuchumei, whose husband is from Hong Kong and whose work deals mostly with the daily lives of ordinary couples, said that news of the ban was “sudden.” In a social media post on Thursday last week, she apologized for not being able to meet her fans in Hong Kong, calling the territory her “second home” where she had many warm memories.

  Chuchumei’s profile has reportedly been removed from the organizer’s Web site, even though she was once introduced as one of the main exhibitors in Asia by the event’s media partner, HK01. Media reports said some local exhibitors received an e-mail from the organizers reminding them to “promise” to follow the law, including the National Security Law, and ensure that they and their employees would not engage in any behavior or activity that could “endanger national security.”

  The brutal crackdown seven years ago sounded the death knell for freedom in the former British colony that was once promised a “high degree of autonomy” under the pretense of “one country, two systems” following its handover to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1997. Now, even an overseas illustrator who draws cute cartoons on harmless topics such as romantic relationships could be punished for an old social media post that is considered “provocative.” Evidently, Hong Kong authorities have not ceased oppressing anyone who speaks out, and self-censorship has become more severe than ever.

  Freedom of speech in the territory has also been drastically undermined in the National Security Law era. Over the past few years, a stream of Hong Kong writers, filmmakers, academics and artists have moved to Taiwan to pursue their careers, while human rights activists struggle to bring the Hong Kong issue back into the spotlight.

  As time passed, younger Taiwanese have started to forget what happened in Hong Kong. It might seem reasonable that a person only cares about things happening at their front door. As a result, they might see what is happening in Hong Kong and ask: “What does it have to do with me?” Some have even said: “Taiwanese owe Hong Kongers nothing.”

  What happened to Chuchumei proved that no one is an island. It is naive to think that a person could stay out of trouble and be happy by shutting their door. Some might say that Taiwanese should support Hong Kongers because they face the same enemy — the CCP. Some act out of fear, saying “Hong Kong today, Taiwan tomorrow,” a slogan widely used during almost every election, while others show support out of empathy for the “fallen” territory.

  In the film A Foggy Tale (大濛), A-yun (阿雲), an intellectual who was eventually shot dead for his participation in a democratic movement in the White Terror era, tells a fable of two water drops in a river. One drop of water hoped to join the clouds and become a drop of rain to nourish the Earth, but in the end found itself dissipating into fog.

  Choosing to stand with Hong Kong, a territory now shrouded in fog, does not have to involve identity politics, strategic calculations or cheap empathy. Standing with Hong Kong is an act based on a shared belief that every free person’s voice deserves to be heard, that the dignity of those suffering for their pursuit of a better world shall be honored and that no one should ever be left behind. Nobody is free until everybody is free.

  For Taiwanese who see themselves as world citizens upholding universal values, it is simply a choice of conscience, justice and humanity, rooted in a will to stubbornly hold on to goodness again and again even in the darkest times.
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