Thailand's recent deportations of Uyghurs to China have eerie parallels with a large deportation in 2015, in which the country bowed to Beijing, writes historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom.

Thailand's deportation of 40 Uyghurs to China last week was in the Southeast Asian country's best interest due to the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the group was sent elsewhere, a Thai minister said on Thursday.

The State Department says the United States and other countries made repeated offers to Thailand to resettle more than three dozen Uyghur men before they were deported back to China, where rights grou

In the early hours of Thursday they were reportedly taken in trucks to an airport in Bangkok and put on a plane ... following an official request from Beijing. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...

Thai minister claims the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the Uyghur refugees are sent to another country.

Thailand deported dozens of Uyghurs to China on Thursday despite warnings from human rights groups that they would face persecution on their return, drawing swift condemnation from the United Nations.

The US condemned "in the strongest possible terms" Thailand's return of 40 Uygur men to China on Thursday and called for Beijing to provide regular access to verify their well-being. "As Thailand's long-standing ally,

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.

China has assured Thailand that 40 Chinese Uyghurs it returned on Thursday would be looked after, Thailand's defence minister said, confirming a secretive pre-dawn deportation that the United Nations and human rights groups condemned.

Resettling the Uighurs would not shield Thailand from a potential fallout with China, the minister said. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Rights groups criticized the Thai government for sending the Uyghurs, a persecuted Muslim minority, back to China, where they face the risk of torture and imprisonment.