Thailand’s vice foreign minister acknowledged on Thursday that Bangkok had offers from other countries to resettle 40 detained Uyghurs before their deportation to China last week -- a reversal of previous comments by Thai officials.
But those proposals were “unrealistic” and would have exposed Thailand to “retaliation from China that would impact the livelihoods of many Thais,” Vice Foreign Minister Russ Jalichandra said in a statement.
Sending the group to China was the “best option,” Russ said. He did not say which countries had offered resettlement.
“Some countries had requested to take them in, but I chose not to name these countries to avoid impacting other nations,” Russ told The Nation newspaper.
On Feb. 27, Thailand repatriated 40 of the Uyghurs to China, ignoring warnings from the United States, the U.N. and human rights groups that they risked torture when the returned to the northeastern region of Xinjiang, which they fled more than 10 years ago.
Thailand previously said it agreed to what it called the voluntary repatriation of the 40 men after a formal request from Beijing, and after getting Chinese assurances they would be safe.
Russ’ statement came a day after Thai opposition member of parliament Kannavee Suebsang told BenarNews that the U.S., Sweden and Australia had “expressed their readiness” to accept Uyghurs for resettlement.
“We’re revealing this because the government has consistently claimed that no country was willing or that they contacted countries but no one would accept the Uyghurs,” Kannavee told BenarNews, an affiliate of Radio Free Asia.
Muslim silence
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department confirmed to RFA that an offer to resettle the Uyghurs had been made in the past.
“We have worked with Thailand for years to avoid this situation, including by consistently and repeatedly offering to resettle the Uyghurs in other countries, including, at one point, the United States,” the spokesperson said.
Uyghurs in China’s vast Xinjiang region have been subjected to widespread human rights abuses, including detention in massive concentration camps. Beijing denies that.
China dismissed fears for the safety of the 40 Uyghur men last week saying they would be reunited with their families and resettled.
Five other Uyghurs are in a Thai prison and the whereabouts of three have not been disclosed.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, said in a Feb. 27 statement that the Thai government had handed the 40 Uyghurs “to the oppressors, torturers and murderers of their people.”
CAIR is the largest Muslim organization in the United States.
“It is true that many Muslim governments did not say anything about this and that is saddening because of the influence that the Chinese government has,” Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell told RFA.
“We certainly encourage Muslim governments that can do so to speak out against the oppression of Uyghur Muslims,” he said. “In the meantime, those Muslim organizations and individuals who have the freedom to speak must do so in support of our Uyghur brothers and sisters.”
China’s regional influence
Abdulhakim Idris, director of the Uyghur Research Center based in Washington, noted the lack of a public response from Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. Both countries, like Thailand, are members of ASEAN, which was founded on the principle of non-interference in members’ internal affairs.
But China’s influence as the region’s dominant economic player was likely the biggest factor behind the silence from Indonesia and Malaysia, Idris said.
“Once again, we realized how fearful Muslim countries are of China, so much so that they go to great lengths to avoid displeasing it,” he told RFA.
Normally, whenever a small incident insulting Muslims occurs anywhere in the world, Muslims typically criticize it from all sides on social media, he said.
“Yet, when 40 Uyghurs were thrown into the mouth of the dragon, they said nothing,” he said. “This is hypocrisy, on the part of Muslims, Muslim organizations, and Muslim countries.”
As of Thursday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which consists of 57 Muslim-majority countries, hadn’t responded to an RFA inquiry about its position on Thailand’s deportation.
Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster. RFA-affiliate BenarNews contributed to this report.