ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the influence of globalism, regionalism, nationalism, and localism that are important, mutually exclusive trends in today’s world on East Asian civil society. Hong Kong is one of the most prominent global cities in the world. As such, the democracy movement in Hong Kong is also influenced by social movements in the world. At the same time, developments in East Asia are also important for Hong Kong’s democracy movement. In 2014, both Hong Kong and Taiwan experienced huge political movements mainly led by students. In the following year, students in Japan organized anti-security law movement. On the other hand, although Hong Kong has long history of supporting China’s democracy movement, recently there seems to be growing distance and deterioration of mutual support. In Summer 2014, Hong Kong students and citizens took to the streets in demand of true democracy. This movement, called the Umbrella Movement, lasted for 79 days. Following the rejection by the Chinese government, protesters felt the futility of negotiating with Beijing, and began to insist that Hong Kong keep its distance from Mainland China to protect its autonomy and avoid China’s influence. This push for the preservation of Hong Kong’s autonomy and local culture resulted in the formation of many newly organized political groups and new demonstrations, and even a call by some groups for Hong Kong’s independence, thus exacerbating the political situation in Hong Kong.
