PUBLISHED : 2 Mar 2025 at 18:42
The repatriation of 40 Uyghurs from Thailand is normal Sino-Thai cooperation on illegal immigration and the countries that criticise it have a double standard, according to the Chinese embassy in Thailand.
Following an international outcry against the repatriation of members of the repressed ethnic minority, the Chinese embassy said on Facebook on Sunday that the “Chinese people” were not asylum seekers but the illegal migrants who had entered Thailand.
“The repatriation was normal law enforcement by sovereign countries,” it said.
It said that Thailand repatriated the Uyghurs on the Chinese government’s request.
“In fiscal 2024, one big country repatriated more than 270,000 illegal migrants,” the Chinese embassy said, apparently referring to the United States.
“The country which observes the same international principle but pressures international organisations to criticise the cooperation of Chinese and Thai governments on the suppression of illegal migrants shows a double standard and violates the basic principles of international relations and relevant conventions,” the Chinese embassy said.
“This means severe intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign countries and may lead to transnational crime.”
It said China was among the first countries that signed and ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and provided wrongdoers and criminals with legal protection.
The embassy said that the repatriated people reunited with their families and local authorities would provide them with jobs and professional skills so that they could resume their normal life as soon as possible.
Some terrorist groups had caused terror attacks in Xinjiang and together with some anti-China organisations lured local people into leaving their home to recruit them to anti-China movements, the embassy claimed. The Chinese government and the Xinjiang government fought hard against such movements and there have been no terror attacks in Xinjiang since late 2016.
According to the statement, one country and anti-China organisations had ignored the beautiful development of Xinjiang, were releasing false rumours against Xinjiang and were boycotting the companies and products of Xinjiang.
“That is intended to ruin the stability of Xinjiang and stop the development of China through the excuses of human and religious rights,” the Chinese embassy said.
The Chinese government was welcoming Thai authorities and visitors from unprejudiced countries to witness the well-being, peace, beauty, unity and religious freedom among ethnic groups in Xinjiang, the embassy said.
Internment camps
After 2017, more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims were swept into internment camps where human rights abuses were commonplace, researchers, campaigners and members of the diaspora say.