Thread by @joshuawongcf

1. LONG THERAD: I'm very excited to read this brilliant new biography of @SpeakerPelosi — a longtime ally of #HongKong's pro-democracy movement and one of my most admired figures in contemporary international politics — written by @mollyesque.

2. In case after case, Pelosi's mastery of the House of Representatives shows through in the pages. She's a hardworking, purposeful progressive who knows how to lead her increasingly diverse caucus well while also making necessary compromises left and right to get things done.

3. Chap. 7 is the most personal to me. It charts Pelosi's rise to national prominence after the #Tiananmen Massacre of 1989 as a second-term congresswoman from California. She'd support the protests from afar and now wanted to protect Chinese students in the US from retribution.

4. Her insistence to take a tough stance against #China irked President G. H. W. Bush, who was desperate not to sever diplomatic ties. He acknowledged her well intentions but dismissed her as naive on international affairs. She pressed on, and her bill gained 100+ co-sponsors.

5. After it passed, Bush vetoed it, and she decried the move as a "slap in the face to the forces of democracy." She lobbied hard for votes and overrode the White House by a 390-25 margin. But it narrowly missed the two-third supermajority threshold needed in the Senate.

6. She still didn't give up. By keeping the issue in the media spotlight, she eventually compelled Bush to incorporate key elements of her legislation in a 1990 executive order. What an astounding victory for a young woman in a world dominated by powerful men.

7. In 1991, she visited #Beijing with two fellow House members and personally went to Tiananmen Square, unfurling a bilingual banner mourning those who'd died there. News TV cameras captured the moment before Chinese cops arrived to rough them up. This picture is so iconic.

8. Her fight was unmistakably bipartisan, as she allied with "conservative anti-Communists and evangelical Christians alongside liberal activists and Bush critics." She even broke with President Clinton in her own party after he decoupled China's MFN status from human rights.

9. In sharp contrast to Clinton, she never believed economic reforms would automatically lead to sociopolitical liberalization in China. She was a leading crusader against its entry to the WHO, and continued to speak up throughout the 2000s even as she rose through the ranks.

10. Fast forward to the #UmbrellaMovement of 2014. When Republicans @RepChrisSmith and Frank Wolf introduced the original Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, Pelosi, now the House Minority Leader, signed up as the lead Democratic co-sponsor.

11. I first met her when she came to Hong Kong in 2015. By then I'd already learned of her stellar record from her two good friends: Martin Lee and Anson Chan, Hong Kong's most prominent democracy advocates on the world stage.

12. Ever since, every single time I've gone to Washington, she has made time to meet me no matter how busy her schedule. She's always briefed about Hong Kong's latest, wasting no time to ask what's already in the news, so we can discuss how to move forward.

13. Upon returning to the speakership last year, she appointed @RepMcGovern, a longtime champion of #Tibet, to chair the @CECCgov. She also expedited an updated #HKHRDA in the House amid the massive #antiELAB demonstrations, despite various hurdles.

14. In September, she invited me and other Hong Kong activists — @nathanlawkc, @hoccgoomusic, @jeffreychngo, @BrianLeungKP, @samuelmchu — to shore up support for the bill in a joint press conference with key, bipartisan Congressional members.

15. As the biography records: "She repeatedly spoke out against Beijing's brutal repression of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, even as the @NBA and other multinational corporations were cowed into silence."

16. "She personally whipped support for [...] imposing sanctions on the regime. The bill put many members of Congress in an uncomfortable position, but she insisted that every member's vote be recorded rather than letting it through on a voice vote. It passed, 417 votes to 1."

17. I can't possibly fit the many other stories here, not to mention her memorable speeches, statements, and behind-the-scene efforts to always do what's virtuous. The book is a great starting point. I hope future scholars will build on it to study this in closer detail! ENDS.