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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A Thai minister on Thursday, March 6, 2025, acknowledged that Uyghur deportations to China were in the best interest of Thailand. As reported by Reuters, the deputy foreign minister Russ Jalichandra said there’s a possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the refugees were sent elsewhere.
Russ said that several countries had offered to resettle the Uyghur refugees. He retracted earlier comments by other Thai officials that there were no such proposals.
He did not mention the names of those countries. The United States, Canada, and Australia are among the countries that have offered to resettle the Uyghurs, but Bangkok has not taken any action for fear of upsetting China, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
However, the offers from the third countries were "unrealistic" because resettling the Uyghurs would not protect Thailand from potential fallout with China, Russ said.
Thailand could face retaliation from China that would impact the livelihoods of many Thais," he said, adding that sending the group to China was the "best option
Russ did not elaborate on the potential retaliation.
The Thai government has repeatedly defended the secretive deportation, despite calls from the UN human rights experts who said that the Uyghurs would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment, and "irreparable harm" if returned to China.
Human rights groups have accused China of widespread abuses against the Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic minority of around 10 million in the northwestern Xinjiang region. Beijing denies any abuses.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry and its embassy in Bangkok did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Russ' statement.
The Chinese foreign ministry told Reuters this week that the individuals sent back to Thailand were Chinese nationals who were illegal migrants. They claimed the process was carried out in accordance with Chinese, Thai, and international law.
The 40 Uighur refugees deported last week were part of a group of 300 who fled China and were arrested in Thailand in 2014. Some were sent back to China and others to Turkey, with the rest remaining in Thai detention for over a decade.
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