Beginning in 2020, the virtual #MilkTeaAlliance movement brought together a transnational group of citizens across the Asia-Pacific that were critical of censorship and nationalism. While the decentralized movement is limited by its lack of cohesion, it has become a force to be reckoned with, gaining the attention and ire of the Chinese government.
On Aug. 9, U.S. President Joe Biden helped bolster the United States’ technological lead over China by signing the CHIPS Act. Despite the hype, though, the history shows that governments’ best-laid plans to develop technology often falter amid bureaucracy, inefficiency and an over-reliance on state control.
At the early onset of the pandemic, the robot Baymax became an unlikely pandemic folk hero, on account of his strong resemblance to the protective gear worn by Chinese health care volunteers. But the suits have now become symbolic of Beijing’s top-down pandemic control measures—and the public’s frustration with them.
