The immigration detention center at the Immigration Bureau in Bangkok, Thailand, February 27, 2025.
(Bangkok) – The Thai government should not forcibly return detained Chinese dissidents to China, Human Rights Watch said today. At least four Chinese dissidents detained at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok face possible deportation to China. The Chinese government has increasingly pressured Thai authorities ahead of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s scheduled visit to China from July 16 to 20, 2026.
“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 has learned that three known Chinese dissidents and a critical journalist are at risk of deportation:
Bai Zhaodong (白兆东), 56, 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 (谭翼翔), 49, a Catholic and 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 (张信燕), 56, a practitioner of Falun Gong, a persecuted religious group, and an activist from China who fled to Thailand in 2014. In July 2025, Hong Kong police issued arrest warrants and a HK$200,000 (US$25,000) bounty against Zhang and 14 other activists from the “Hong Kong Parliament” di
