Beyond the Mekong | Politics | Southeast Asia

Transnational Repression, Organized Crime, and Conflict in Southeast Asia

A conversation with Phil Robertson, a Bangkok-based human rights advocate.

Phil Robertson, the director of the Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates.

Chinese dissident Zhang Xinyan was detained by authorities in Thailand last week while boarding her scheduled flight from Bangkok to Canada for resettlement, despite holding a refugee visa from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and all required approvals from Ottawa.

Human rights groups immediately leapt to her defense, adding there are three more Chinese dissidents – Bai Zhaodong, Tan Yixiang, and Zhou Junyi – currently being held in Thai detention centers who were at risk of being forcibly returned if local authorities bow to pressure from Beijing.

Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates, returns to Beyond the Mekong to speak with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about their plight and the region-wide issue of transnational repression.

“If they, these four refugees, are sent back, including Zhang and others, they would face persecution, arrest, likely torture and detention, and long prison terms,” he said.

Robertson said Zhang Xinyan’s detention had again raised concerns in the United States, European Union, Australia, and Canada, which was expected to lead diplomatic efforts in securing her release. Their plight was also reminiscent of the 40 Uyghurs that Thailand forcibly repatriated to China last year.

“If Thailand, at the last minute pulls back a case like this,........

© The Diplomat