After a barrage of condemnation from the United States, the European Union, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and a host of human rights groups, over the Thai government’s "forced deportation" of 109 Uighur men back to China, Beijing has come to Thailand's rescue. It has undeniably done so to defend itself against concerns that the returnees face harsh treatment and a lack of due process, as stated by John Kirby, the US State Department spokesman.
So far, China is the only country to come out in defence of the Thai government’s "violation of core principles of international humanitarian law" as charged by the UNHCR over the mishandling of the 109 Uighurs. As things stand, it might well be the only country to defend Thailand's conduct in this episode, too.
But China's move will not help in minimising the damage already done to the reputation of this country, battered as it is by the European Union’s "yellow card" for widespread illegal practices in the Thai fishing fleet and the ICAO’s "red flag" over Thailand’s aviation safety oversight.
China’s security ministry claimed on Saturday that the 109 Uighurs repatriated by the Thai government had been on their way to Turkey, Syria or Iraq "to join a jihad".
China’s official news agency, Xinhua, reported that many of the 109 Uighurs had been radicalised by materials released by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and the World Uyghur Congress. Chinese police investigations, according to the report, had uncovered several jihad recruitment gangs in Turkey.
In Beijing on Saturday, Tong Bishan, a division chief of the Ministry of Public Security’s Criminal Investigation Department, told a group of foreign reporters that Turkish embassies in Southeast Asia, especially the one in Kuala Lumpur, had issued identity papers to the Uighurs so they could travel to Turkey where some were "sold" to fight for rebel groups such as the Islamic State which use them as "cannon fodder".
The Chinese foreign ministry, separately, lodged complaints with the US State Department over its condemnation of the Thai government’s deportation of the 109 Uighurs.
In retrospect, the deportation of the Uighur men to China was a big mistake by the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, even with China’s claim that some planned to join jihadist groups in the Middle East.
By sending the men back to China and deporting the women and children to Turkey, the government has deliberately broken up their families, separating children from fathers, wives from husbands. They may never be able to see one another again.
This is a heart-breaking experience for anyone subjected to forced separation from their loved ones. I simply can’t imagine how the authorities concerned - to be more specific, the junta - have overlooked this morally sensitive aspect.
Simply ask yourself how you would feel if you were separated from your wife and children with the grim prospect that you would never get to see them again?
The West’s concern that the Uighurs may not receive fair treatment is not without justification, just as China’s claim that some of them may join extremist groups cannot be completely ruled out given the successful recruitment campaign by the IS and the fact many foreigners have joined the jihadists' ranks and fought in Syria and Iraq.
China’s record of harsh treatment of the Uighur in Xinjiang is disturbing. But if China really wants the world to believe that the repatriated Uighur are being treated fairly and help Thailand out of this mess, then it should allow international organisations such as the UNHCR to visit the group and observe their trials.
China cannot help with the problem of Prime Minister Prayut’s loose tongue and his emotional outbursts in front of the media, which appear to be happening more frequently.
His use of the word krok (litter) to describe how the Uighur will multiply if allowed to stay here permanently, intentionally or not, is demeaning to the group and should not have come from the mouth of a government leader. Perhaps, a course in anger management may help!
Veera Prateepchaikul is a former editor, Bangkok Post.