BANGKOK – Thailand’s deputy prime minister was due to travel to the Xinjiang region on Tuesday to check that China is keeping a promise on the safety of 40 Uyghur men who Thailand deported despite warnings from the U.S. and others that they faced torture if sent back.
Thailand put the men on a plane to Xinjiang on Feb. 27, saying China had given assurances that they would not be mistreated and no third country had committed to take them. They had been held at an immigration detention center in Bangkok since escaping China’s persecution in 2014.
Human rights groups are skeptical of China’s assurance on their safety while a State Department official confirmed to Radio Free Asia that U.S. diplomats offered to resettle the Uyghurs either in the United States or a third country.
The leader of the Thai delegation, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, said he and his team were due to meet five of the men as others had moved to various parts of the huge region, but he would hold online video calls with others.
“We will visit a care center and listen to a briefing on how China treated them after we have sent the 40 Uyghurs back, and visit their homes if possible,” Phumtham, who is also defense minister, told reporters on the eve of the three-day trip, referring to several of the men who had been sick.
Thai reporters would be allowed to cover the delegation’s visit, he said, adding the team would meet at least one of 109 Uyghurs Thailand sent back to China in 2015.
Thailand is the only U.S. treaty partner in mainland Southeast Asia and their relationship stretches back 200 years. The kingdom was a stalwart U.S. ally throughout the Cold War while Thailand has also developed strong ties with China, the region’s dominant economic player.
China is among the top trading partners and foreign investors in Thailand, and its main source of foreign tourists. Analysts said Thailand’s decision to deport the 40 men back indicated a diplomatic tilt towards China.
The U.S. had made a request that the Uyghurs not be sent back and Marco Rubio had called directly on Thailand not to deport them at his Jan. 15 confirmation hearing to become secretary of state.
Rubio condemned the deportation “in the strongest possible terms” and last Friday he announced visa sanctions against unidentified Thai government officials involved in the affair. The European Parliament also condemned the deportation saying it violated international law.
Responding to the U.S. sanctions, Thailand reiterated that it had received assurances from China on the Uyghurs’ safety and it would follow up on their well-being. It said it had a long history of helping displaced people and would continue to do so.
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Under pressure
Phumtham reiterated that Thailand had not received a commitment to take the men and China had been pressing to get them back.
“If a third country had wanted them, I would have accepted that but I couldn’t wait because China kept pressing me,” he said.
“We said all along we are a small country, taking no side,” he said.
“Thailand doesn’t want enemies.”
The U.S. has since 2021 described China’s persecution of the mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghurs as a “genocide,” leveling accusations of torture, forced sterilization and slavery against Chinese officials. China denies that.
China said the 40 men were “illegal border crossers” and their repatriation “was normal law enforcement cooperation between China and Thailand to combat illegal immigration and human smuggling.”
China’s state-backed Global Times newspaper said on Monday the U.S. sanctions against Thailand were “hypocritical meddling in China’s internal affairs under the guise of human rights.”
Human Rights Watch called on the Thai delegation to press Chinese officials about their abuses against Uyghurs and seek unfettered access to the 40 men.
“The Thai delegation visiting Xinjiang shouldn’t take part in Chinese government choreography and image laundering, but instead report on how Uyghurs are really being treated,” said the group’s Asia director, Elaine Pearson.
Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.