The deportation of 109 Turkic ethnic Uighurs, including women and children, to China last week has proved another setback to the military government's foreign affairs policies as the world pours condemnation on Bangkok, rather than Beijing, for its cloak-and-dagger move.
The move breached the principle of non-refoulement, a core tenet of international humanitarian law, said the UN Refugee Agency. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Thai government not to compound the problem by sending back the remaining Uighurs to China. There are 52 Uighurs left in Thai detention centres following the deportation of a group of eight to Turkey.
For many, the Jul 8 mass deportation late at night from Don Mueang Police Airbase brought back memories of Thailand's swift handover of Indonesian cleric Hambali to the US in 2003 on terrorism charges.
The deportation of the Uighurs may give many the impression that Thailand is no longer Uncle Sam's lackey, but a vassal state of China. The fact is that Thailand's policy-makers have always toed the line when dealing with major powers, both near and far.
But it was the May 22 coup that pushed Thailand closer to its big friend from the North, as Western countries gave it the cold shoulder.
The Uighur issue emerged in Thailand in 2013 when 459 Uighur Muslim migrants were arrested for illegally entering Thailand on several occasions throughout the year. They had hoped for resettlement elsewhere through either formal or informal channels.
Initially, Thailand tried to maintain a balance, denying both Chinese and Turkish embassies access to the migrants after they asked to interview the migrants at detention centres in Bangkok and Songkhla.
Instead, Thailand allowed the International Organisation of Migration and UN Refugee Agency to meet the Uighurs, before easing the rules for both embassies and enabling them to send their officials to interview the detainees.
China insisted on checking if the detained Uighurs matched its terrorist files while Turkey accepted them as its nationals, issuing travel documents for all. During this process, more than 100 managed to escape from the temporary shelters.
The Chinese embassy later asked Thailand to provide them with bio data, fingerprints, and photos of the detained migrants for verification and, according to a security document obtained by the Bangkok Post, it found that "126 out of 303 files matched the domicile data in Xinjiang and 67 people had similar fingerprints".
Following behind-the-scenes interventions between China, Turkey and Thailand, the National Security Council (NSC) called a meeting in December last year which concluded the Uighur issue, like the one concerning the Rohingya, was a delicate matter as both China and Turkey had similar claims to the minority group. So the NSC suggested state agencies should stick to applicable laws, and/or set up a committee to verify each case pending a clearer policy from the military government.
Later, the NSC decided the final decision on Uighurs as well as the Rohingya would be made by a committee under Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan.
As the lengthy and cumbersome Chinese-Turkish tug of war dragged on, a three-year-old boy died on Dec 22 last year due to pneumonia from poor hygiene conditions at the Sadao checkpoint.
One particular case under the spotlight was the struggle of the Teklimakan family of 17 members, including a newborn baby (delivered while the mother was in detention), who sought a court order to end their detention and leave for Turkey as they had passports ready for travel. In March, the court ruled the detention of the family was legal under immigration law.
Later, 15 members of the family (mostly women and minors) became part of the group of 172 Uighurs boarding a plane to Turkey on the night of Jun 30. Only two members of the Teklimakan family, who were clear of criminal and terrorism records, did not join them. Their whereabouts now are unclear.
The Jul 8 deportation to China was not the first. On Aug 6, 2011, the government secretly turned over an ethnic Uighur and dissident, Nur Muhammed, to the Chinese embassy. His fate is unknown.
But an international outcry was sparked over the return of the 109 Uighurs last week, despite claims by China that they had criminal and terrorism links. This was heightened after footage was released of the black-hooded deportees, and rumours that 25 migrants were killed upon arrival on Chinese soil.
Thailand then faced international pressure to explain, in a transparent and convincing manner, why the 109 Uighurs were sent to China against their wishes, after most of them were proved to be residing in Xinjiang. Even if Thai authorities were convinced of the claims by Chinese authorities who tried to portray some of the deportees as "terrorists, criminals, and jihadists", they should still follow legal extradition procedures. In addition, many questioned China's allegations, perceiving them as false charges against political dissidents.
Over the past decade, China has successfully pressured many countries to hand over ethnic Uighurs found in their territory: two from Nepal in 2002, one from Kazakhstan in 2009, 20 from Cambodia in 2009, 11 from Malaysia, in 2011, and five from Pakistan in 2011.
Now Thailand has broken all those records, with 109 in one undertaking.
Given that Thailand is a candidate for a non-permanent member's seat on the UN Security Council, the country needs a good record on human rights. The July 8 deportation has damaged the country's record and will do more harm than good to its candidacy for this international position of privilege.
Achara Ashayagachat is Senior News Reporter, Bangkok Post.