HRW urges Thailand not to forcibly return Chinese dissidents
Watchdog it has learnt that three known Chinese dissidents, a critical journalist are at risk of deportation
BANGKOK, Thailand (MNTV) – Human Rights Watch has urged the Thailand government not to forcibly return detained Chinese dissidents to China. At least four Chinese dissidents detained at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok face possible deportation to China.
“Successive Thai governments have found it easy to cast aside Thailand’s international obligations to please Beijing,” said Sunai Phasuk, senior Thailand adviser at Human Rights Watch.
“Thailand is damaging its reputation by complying with Chinese government requests to unlawfully deport Chinese dissidents instead of allowing them to travel to safe third countries.”
Human Rights Watch says it has learnt that three known Chinese dissidents and a critical journalist are at risk of deportation.
Bai Zhaodong, 56, is a prominent former investigative journalist at Caixin, China’s leading media outlet, known for his reporting on high-level corruption in rural areas and on the impact of President Xi Jinping’s signature poverty alleviation initiative on vulnerable populations.
Tan Yixiang, 49, is a vocal advocate for Tibetan and Uyghur rights. He entered Thailand in 2022 and was arrested by Thai police later that year. He was released on bail in mid-2023, but in February 2024 police rearrested Tan and placed him in immigration detention.
Zhang Xinyan, 56, is a practitioner of Falun Gong, a persecuted religious group, and activist from China who fled to Thailand in 2014. In July 2025, Hong Kong police issued arrest warrants and a $25,000 bounty against Zhang and 14 other activists from the “Hong Kong Parliament” diaspora group, alleging that they had committed “subversion” under the draconian Hong Kong National Security Law.
In May 2026, Thai police arrested Zhang for allegedly overstaying her visa. On July 8, Thai authorities reportedly blocked Zhang from flying to Canada for resettlement.
Zhou Junyi, 54, is a member of the banned China Democracy Party. He escaped to Thailand in 2015. In June 2025, Bangkok police arrested Zhou over visa violations shortly after he organized a memorial event for the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre.
UNHCR has recognized all four of them as refugees.
In recent years, successive Thai governments have forcibly returned dissidents and other wanted individuals to China, where they faced persecution, torture, and other ill-treatment.
In February 2025, Thai authorities sent 40 Uyghur men to China, where their circumstances remain unknown.
In July 2015, Thai authorities forcibly transferred more than 100 Uyghur men to the custody of Chinese authorities, who flew them from Bangkok to China.
HRW said the Thai government is obligated to respect the international law principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious ill-treatment, a threat to life, or other comparable serious human rights violations.
Refoulement is prohibited by the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Thailand is a party, as well as customary international law. The prohibition on refoulement is also incorporated in Thailand’s 2023 Act on Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearances, it added.
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