US imposes travel sanctions on Thai officials in retaliation for deporting 40 Uyghurs to China

The U.S. has imposed travel sanctions on an unnamed number of current and former Thai officials after the Southeast Asian country repatriated 40 Uyghur individuals back to China in February 2025.

Visa restrictions

Reuters reports that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions against officials from Thailand on Mar. 14.

The Bangkok Post reports that the sanctions involve restricting visas to an unknown number current and former Thai officials involved in the sending of of 40 Uyghurs to China, part of a new policy aimed to deterring governments from similar actions.

In February 2024, Thailand deported 40 Uyghurs to China despite the U.S. and Canada urging them not to do so.

The Uyghurs had been held in detention in Thailand for a decade.

Reuters quoted a U.S. State Department statement saying that “the U.S. is committed to combating China's efforts to pressure governments to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China.”

The State Department also alleges that Uyghurs in China were subject to torture and enforced disappearances.

Condemnation

United Nations human rights experts likewise warned that the group would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment, and irreparable harm should they be returned to China.

Canada and the U.S. had reportedly offered to resettle the 48 Uyghurs, but Reuters reported that Thailand declined, supposedly for fear of "upsetting China".

Perhaps one of the few things that the European Union parliament and the U.S. can still agree on, the European Parliament also condemned Thailand for the returning the Uyghurs.

Al-Jazeera reported that the 40 Uyghurs were part of a group of 300 that had fled to Thailand in 2014, and prior to the returns, 48 had remained in detention.

China’s Embassy in Thailand said just after they were returned that the 40 Uyghurs were Chinese nationals who had been smuggled into Thailand.

The embassy said they had all returned home and were reunited with their families after over a decade.

Reuters also reports that China continues to deny allegations of mistreatment of ethnic Uyghurs in China.

Caution

Thai opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut of the People's Party, the successor to the now-banned Move Forward Party, expressed his concerns about Thailand’s image after the move.

The Nation quoted Natthaphong as commenting that he had urged the government to take foreign policy decisions with caution, directly citing the competition between superpowers as a reason for caution.

The Thai foreign ministry dismissed the concerns raised by foreign countries, saying that the country had “always upheld a long tradition of humanitarianism”.

It also said it would “continue to follow up on the well-being” of the returned group.

Al-Jazeera reported that both Thailand’s justice and defence ministers had said they had scheduled a trip to visit the 40 Uyghurs in China in the upcoming week and had invited a Thai journalist to accompany them.

Retaliation

An expert that Reuters spoke to suggested that Thailand’s reaction to sanctions might be “tempered” by the country wanting to retain a low profile at the moment.

This was due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s propensity to target countries with large trade surpluses with the U.S. with tariff threats.

Thailand, in recent years, has been drawing closer to China economically, looking to attract more investment.

This has caused tension with the U.S., although both remain treaty allies.

Reuters reports that the U.S. had previously been cautious of taking action against Thailand for fear of driving the country closer to its geopolitical rival.

While the U.S. has previously targeted Thailand with sanctions, often related to military coups, these tended to be targeted against individuals and rarely affected current members of the government.

It appears that Rubio, who has advocated for the Uyghurs since he was a U.S. Senator, is prepared to send a stronger message.

Top image via U.S. Department of State/Facebook