Praise for Xinjiang as Thai ministers visit deported Uygurs in western Chinese region

Xinjiang Communist Party chief Ma Xingrui hosts high-level Thai delegation as part of a deal struck when Bangkok agreed to send back 40 Uygurs

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Phumtham Wechayachai, the deputy prime minister and defence minister of Thailand, addresses a press conference on the deportation of Uygurs detained in Thailand, in Bangkok on February 27. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:00pm, 21 Mar 2025Updated: 8:31pm, 21 Mar 2025

Thailand hopes to “learn from Xinjiang’s experience” of managing a multi-ethnic society, deputy prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai has been quoted as telling the Communist Party chief of the western Chinese region earlier this week.

According to an official Chinese statement released on Friday, Ma Xingrui, party secretary for the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, held talks with Phumtham – who is also the Thai defence minister – in the city of Kashgar on Wednesday.

The Thai delegation, which included senior officials and media representatives, also visited repatriated Uygurs at their homes the same day, accompanied by local officials, the Thai Public Broadcasting Service reported.

Uygurs are a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that the West and rights groups claim have been persecuted by Beijing, which rejects the charge.

Ma Xingrui, the Communist Party secretary for Xinjiang, hopes to “further strengthen exchanges and interactions between Xinjiang and Thailand at the local level”. Photo: AP

The Thai visit was part of a deal struck with Beijing when Bangkok agreed to send back 40 Uygurs who had spent more than a decade in detention since fleeing China. They are reported to have been trying to reach Turkey, which has a significant Uygur population, and were detained by Thai border control.