Canada and US offered Uighurs in Thailand asylum before deportation to China sources say

BANGKOK - Canada and the United States offered to resettle 48 ethnic Uyghurs held in detention in Thailand over the past decade, sources told Reuters, but Bangkok took no action for fear of upsetting China, where they were covertly deported last week.

Thailand has defended the deportation, which came despite calls from United Nations human rights experts, saying that it acted in accordance to laws and human rights obligations.

Human rights groups accuse China of widespread abuses of Uighurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority numbering about 10 million in its north-western region of Xinjiang. Beijing denies any abuses.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on March 3 that no country made any concrete offer to resettle the 48 Uighurs.

“We waited for more than 10 years, and I have spoken to many major countries, but no one told me for certain,” he told reporters.

Mr Phumtham was out of government from 2006 until mid-2023.

The United States offered to resettle the 48 Uighurs, said an official from the US State Department.

“The United States has worked with Thailand for years to avoid this situation, including by consistently and repeatedly offering to resettle the Uighurs in other countries, including, at one point, the United States,” the US official said, asking not to be named.

Canada also offered asylum to the detained Uighurs, said four sources, including diplomats and people with direct knowledge.

Two of these sources said another offer came from Australia.

These proposals, which the sources said were not taken forward by Thailand over fears of a fallout with China, have not been previously reported.

All the sources declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Thailand and Chinas foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Canadas immigration ministry