The United States has restricted visas to current and former Thai officials involved in the return of 40 Uyghurs to China last month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.
The visa curbs are part of a new US policy to combat China’s efforts to pressure governments to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China, the secretary of state said in a statement.
Members of the Chinese minority group are subject to torture and enforced disappearances and the new visa restriction policy will apply to any government officials who deport Uyghurs back to the Asian country, Mr Rubio said.
“In light of China’s longstanding acts of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against Uyghurs, we call on governments around the world not to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China,” he said.
The US did not identify the Thai officials who will face visa restrictions. It said certain family members of the targeted individuals might also be subject to the measures.
Thailand earlier this month defended the Feb 27 deportation, saying it was the “best solution” to avoid a backlash from Beijing. The country has sought to deepen ties with China, a key source of foreign investment, to boost its lacklustre economy.
Rare occurrence
The United States has imposed sanctions in the past on Thailand, including by suspending military aid after military coups, and has also targeted Thai individuals and companies for violating sanctions on third countries. But a leading Southeast Asia expert said he could not recall sanctions on Thai government officials.
Murray Hiebert, a specialist with the Southeast Asia programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Thailand can be very sensitive to criticism, but its reaction could be tempered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
“They might want to lie low,” he told Reuters. “They already have a target on their back by having the 11th largest trade surplus with the US. ... It’s not clear Thailand is out of the woods yet when Trump imposes reciprocal tariffs in early April.”
Analysts say Washington has avoided taking tougher sanctions measures against Thailand in the past due to concerns that this might push its long-time ally closer to China.
China has been repeatedly accused by the US and other nations of abuses against the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority that lives in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
Beijing has come under international pressure for subjecting them to forced labour in detention centres and transfer programmes that remove them from their homes in rural areas to work in factories in urban areas. China has denied the accusations.
The announcement in Washington followed a resolution by the European Parliament on Thursday condemning Thailand over the deportation. The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs defended the move, saying it had received assurances from Beijing that the Uyghurs were safe.
‘Ask Beijing for details’
Panitan Wattanayagorn, an international relations scholar, on Saturday suggested that the best course of action is for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask China to confirm the exact locations of the 40 Uyghurs and share that information with both the European Parliament and the US.
After all, he said, Thailand’s remaining negotiating power is not as good as it was before the Uyghurs were deported.
“I wonder why the police and the National Security Council, which began directly handling this issue 11 years ago, didn’t negotiate for this since then,” he said.
In the event the defence and foreign ministers end up facing visa restrictions, that could become a new problem that may strain Thai-US relations as these ministers have to attend annual meetings in the US, he added.
Fair Party list-MP Kannavee Suebsang described the US sanctions as a reaction to a decision that lacked sound international diplomatic judgement.
He said he had already warned that the Thai government’s handling of the Uyghurs would backfire on the entire country if the government chose a course of action that did not conform to international diplomatic norms.
Visa restrictions normally are imposed on terrorists, members of violent armed groups and state officials considered dictators, the MP noted. The Thai government and the officials involved in the deportations have now been reassigned by the US to the same tier as those people, he said.
He urged the public to wait and see what other consequences could ensue.