On the burning issue of Thailand’s pending forced repatriation to China of forty-some Uyghur refugees, to certain torture and probably death there, because of international protests (even from UN-appointed experts), and global media attention, top Thai political leaders and the national police chief have now come out, to tie themselves in knots while trying to defend their country’s actions and shore up an image of decency.
Thailand’s police chief has the audacity to say that the refugees, WHO HAVE BEEN DETAINED FOR TEN YEARS NOW, are “doing OK”.
This article also mentions the brave Thai senator Angkhana Neelapaijit, chairwoman of a Senate committee that has now asked to at last be allowed to see the detained men, and who also “expressed concerns shared by human rights organisations that the Uyghur group could face danger if they are sent back to China.”
She also reminded us all about how the coup government of general Prayut Chan-o-cha in 2013 already forcibly returned 109 Uyghur men to China at Beijing’s request, and to this day, their fate remains unknown. (Of course, we can assume they have all long since put to death).
In another report, a deputy PM and defence minister says Thailand will handle this decently (again, that’s after holding these refugees for 10 years!!), and “promises to adhere to human rights.” This minister’s pronouoncement has been seized upon as a hopeful sign, by Uyghurs in exile.
But I for one wonder, about Thailand and human rights. The country has refused to sign the international refugee convention on refugee treatment, and that same coup general once mocked the very same Uyghur refugees he sent to their probable death, as lowly animals.
This whole saga reminds us of how in 2015 Thailand allowed China to send agents to kidnap our Swedish citizen Gui Minhai, co-owner of a Hong Kong bookstore and publishing house, from his home in Pattaya, Thailand, and force-deliver him back in China for gory TV displays, choreographed post-torture. He has been totally incommunicado since five years now. And there are other similar cases of Chinese state-engineered transnational kidnappings.
Thailand for its part has never answered any questions about how they allowed the kidnapping of our Swedish citizen to happen, or, other such cases. Instead, the Thai government has been going along with China’s wish to bury the whole issue of their transnational kidnappings.
In stark contrast, in recent days, because worries about the inflow of money from Chinese tourists who have been jolted by social media attention to a Chinese actor (not in opposition to the Chinese government) was apparently kidnapped by Chinese gangsters, the Thai government made a lot of effort to project itself as able to rescue him, and combat such criminality.
They now even engineered an AI-generated avatar of the current prime minister who promises –in Chinese of course– on TV, that “Thailand is safe”: “An AI-generated prime minister is Thailand’s latest tool to counter Chinese fears about tourist safety.”
The reality is, of course, Thailand is only safe until the moment the Beijing regime demands your head on a plate.
(Thailand’s visa free policy towards China, which itself may have greatly eased the entry to various kinds of Chinese criminals, has also been criticized: “Thailand’s visa waiver for Chinese tourists under fire after string of crimes“)
Meanwhile, our Swedish citizen kidnapped from Thailand still languishes in a Chinese jail (if he is still alive).
And the more than forty more refugees from China are awaiting Thailand’s death sentence by Chinese return flight, sending them back to join the millions tormented under China’s ongoing Uyghur genocide.
Sincerely,
Magnus Fiskesjö