The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok issued a statement today, criticising the double standards being applied by western governments and international human rights organisations over the repatriation of Uyghurs to China, while remaining silent over a major western country’s deportation of more than 270,000 refugees from its territory.
In a Q&A style statement, issued in response to the condemnation of Thailand by the United Nations, the US, Germany and the United Kingdom, among other western countries, for the deportation of 40 Uyghurs back to Xinjiang in China, the Chinese Embassy said that illegal immigration is an internationally-accepted offence and deportation is merely the standard enforcement of the law of the host country.
The deportation of the Uyghurs, who had been held in detention in Thailand for two decades, was at the request of the Chinese government and was an exercise in cooperation between the two countries in the enforcement of their laws.
The embassy also said that this group of Uyghurs could not be repatriated sooner because it was being blocked by a number of major countries and some anti-China groups.
The embassy offered an assurance that the Chinese government has arranged for these returnees to be reunited with their families, so that they can return to a normal life, and claimed that their deportation from Thailand was the best way to protect their human rights.
The Chinese government has cooperated with Xinjiang self-administration authorities in restoring peace, after suppression of extremist groups in the province, said the embassy, adding that Thai officials have been to Xinjiang, at the invitation of the Chinese government, to visit the returning Uyghurs, to make sure that they are safe and to observe their living conditions.
