On February 27, 2025, Thailand deported 40 Uighur asylum seekers back to China, a move strongly condemned by UN officials and activists who had long warned that the men could face torture and lengthy prison sentences upon return.
Thai officials said the expulsions were made at Beijing's request and were a major victory for China.
The move demonstrates Beijing's growing influence in the region and stands in stark contrast to the US government's recent increasingly retrenchment policy.
Just three weeks ago, Thai Prime Minister Petunthan Shinawatra met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing to discuss a railway project and ways to increase Chinese tourists, bringing Bangkok and Beijing closer.
Beijing and Bangkok violate international law
The UN refugee agency and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called the expulsion a clear violation of international law. Overseas Uighur activists condemned the decision.
China has been using its power and influence to silence critics abroad and pressure governments to repatriate Chinese citizens fleeing persecution. These Uighurs are likely to be sent back to the tightly controlled Xinjiang region. In recent years, the government has detained as many as one million Uighurs and people of other ethnic groups in internment camps and prisons, increased birth control measures for Muslim women, and placed Muslim children in boarding schools.
The Uighurs, who have been detained in Bangkok for more than a decade, were among more than 300 people who fled China in 2014, hoping to use Thailand as a transit point on their way to Turkey, which has a large Uighur community. Last month, some of the detained men went on a hunger strike out of fear of being deported to China.
Türk said the asylum seekers were held in poor conditions in Thailand, five of whom died in custody and eight are believed to still be in detention.
The detainees' plight has drawn close attention from governments around the world, including the United States, Canada, and Japan. During his confirmation hearing last month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that he would lobby Thailand not to send the Uighurs back to China. This concern initially prompted Thai authorities to pledge not to repatriate the Uighurs. However, human rights activists who have been monitoring developments began reporting signs in the early hours of February 27th that authorities were preparing to deport the Uighurs.
Around 2 a.m. in central Bangkok, a reporter witnessed six trucks with black cloth covering their windows leaving an immigration detention center where Uighurs were being held. Several police cars followed the trucks, blocking traffic around them.
