Yesterday, Reuters reported that Canada and the United States had both offered to resettle 48 ethnic Uyghurs held in detention in Thailand since 2014, prior to their secretive deportation to China last week.
The 40 Uyghurs, who had been detained at the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok for more than a decade, were deported in a secretive pre-dawn operation on February 27. The deportation came despite Thai government denials, and in defiance of urgent calls from human rights groups and U.N. experts who said they faced imprisonment and torture if returned to China.
The Uyghurs were part of a group of more than 300 Uyghurs who were detained by Thai authorities in 2014, after having fled oppression in China’s Xinjiang region. Of the 48 Uyghurs in Thai custody, only 40 were deported to China last week; of the remaining eight, five are serving sentences in Thai prisons. The whereabouts of the remaining three remain unclear.
The Reuters report quoted a U.S. State Department as saying that the U.S. offered to resettle all 48 Uyghurs. “The United States has 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 unnamed official told the news agency.
Canada and Australia also offered asylum to the detained Uyghurs, the report added, citing a further four sources that included “diplomats and people with direct knowledge” of the situation.
The same accusation has been leveled at Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s government by Kannavee Suebsan, a lawmaker from the center-left Fair Party. On Tuesday, Kannavee shared three letters that he claims were written by the detained Uyghurs in November, begging Paetongtarn not to send them to any third country – but not back to China.
He also claims that the Thai Foreign Ministry “knew that the United States, Sweden, and Australia were ready to accept the Uyghur refugees for resettlement as early as July 2024,” according to a report by the Thai Enquirer. The basis for this claim is a record of a July 10, 2024 meeting of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights, obtained by Kannavee and shared on his Facebook page, during which a representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “informed the committee that the three countries were willing to take the refugees.” Human rights groups have also separately confirmed that third countries expressed their willingness to resettle the Uyghurs.
These reports directly contradict claims by senior Thai officials, who have defended the deportation on the grounds that it was voluntary, followed the proper international procedures, and – most importantly – that no other country had offered to resettle the 48 Uyghurs.
In comments to the press yesterday, Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said that Thailand had informed “powerful countries” that Thailand had two options: repatriating the Uyghurs to their country of origin or sending them to a third country that was willing to accept them. “However, despite expressions of sympathy for the Uyghurs, no nation had formally agreed to take them in,” he said, in the Bangkok Post’s paraphrase. Phumtham added that Turkey had agreed, but would only resettle women, children, and the elderly – though this account has been challenged by human rights activists.
“We waited for more than 10 years, and I have spoken to many major countries, but no one told me for certain,” Phumtham told the press on March 3.
The clear implication of these reports is that Thailand had a choice between sending the Uyghurs back to China or to a third country, and chose the first option in order to avoid derailing its relations with Beijing. This, at least, was the view advanced by Pisan Manawapat, a Thai ambassador to Canada and the U.S., who told Reuters – on record – that “we didn’t want to upset China.”
The record of the July meeting between the Foreign Ministry and the House Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights that was shared by Kannavee Suebsang also showed “ongoing pressure from Chinese representatives, including the Chinese ambassador, urging Thailand to deport the Uyghurs to China and preventing resettlement in another country or temporary stay in Thailand,” as the Thai Enquirer reported. It added that the ministry expressed concern that “sending the refugees to a third country or allowing them to temporarily stay in Thailand would anger Beijing and lead to retaliation.”
China and Thailand will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties later this year.
