The U.S. and Japanese governments have warned their citizens about possible security threats in Thailand, following the government’s secretive deportation of 40 Muslim Uyghur asylum seekers to China.
In an amended security alert posted on the U.S. embassy’s website on Friday, it said that the February 27 deportation had the potential to provoke a violent response that could endanger American citizens.
“Similar deportations have prompted violent retaliatory attacks in the past,” the alert stated, referencing the August 2015 bombing of the Erawan Shrine on Sukhumvit Road in central Bangkok, which killed 20 people and injured more than 120. The bombing was the worst attack of its kind on Thai soil.
Security analysts believe that the bombing of the shrine, which is popular with Chinese tour groups, was a response to Thailand’s deportation of 109 Uyghur detainees to China against their will in July 2015, which also prompted a storm of outrage from foreign governments and human rights groups.
The U.S. embassy alert advised American citizens to “exercise increased caution and vigilance, especially in crowded locations frequented by tourists due to the potential for increased collateral risk.”
The Japanese embassy in Thailand also sent an e-mail warning its citizens in the wake of the deportation, Reuters reported.
In a pre-dawn operation on February 27, the group of Uyghurs was bused from the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok to Don Mueang airport and put on a charter flight to China, after more than a decade in immigration detention. The deportation came despite Thai government denials that the repatriation was imminent, and in defiance of urgent calls from human rights groups and U.N. experts who said they faced imprisonment and torture if returned to China.
The 40 were part of a group of more than 300 Uyghurs who were detained by Thai authorities in 2014, after having fled oppression in China’s Xinjiang region. It was from this group that the 109 detainees were deported back to China in 2015; a further 173 of the group were allowed to travel to Turkey. This left 53 Uyghurs stuck in Thai immigration detention, awaiting their applications for political asylum. Since then, five have died in detention, including two children.
The deportation was publicly criticized by foreign governments including Australia, Canada, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the decision, after having pledged during his recent Senate confirmation hearings to lobby Thailand against the deportation.
In this context, upgrading the U.S. security alert in Bangkok is a means of expressing displeasure at the deportation, and of imposing a cost on Thailand for its move. Thailand’s economy is heavily dependent on tourism, and the government has spent the past two years attempting to stimulate the sector, which has been sluggish since the doldrums of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thailand welcomed just over 35 million international visitors last year, and is targeting between 36 and 39 million for 2025.
Thai officials have defended the deportation of the Uyghur detainees, and the secrecy with which it was carrying it out, describing it as a matter of national security. They have also claimed that the Thai government has received Chinese assurances that the Uyghurs will be treated well, Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told the media on Friday. He added that China had agreed to allow Thai officials to make periodic inspections from next week.
“Thailand should be commended for managing this problem,” said Phumtham, who is also a deputy prime minister. “This is done out of goodwill of the Thai government and not ill intent … it is a good thing to get them out of detention so they can return to their normal lives with relatives, husbands, wives, and children.”
China’s embassy in Bangkok said that the repatriation was “carried out in accordance with the laws of China and Thailand, international law and common practices,” and that the “lawful rights and interests of individuals concerned are fully protected.”
While the risk of retaliatory attacks is low, Reuters reported that Thailand’s police chief had ordered increased surveillance of key areas and tourist attractions since the day of the deportation.