Foreign Ministry responds to US sanctions over Uyghur deportations

The Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement on Saturday addressing visa sanctions imposed by the United States after the deportation of 40 Uyghur refugees to China last month.

Diplomatic tensions escalated after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on Friday targeting "current and former Thai government officials responsible for or complicit in the forced deportation of 40 Uyghurs from Thailand on February 27".

In a measured two-point response, the Thai Foreign Ministry said it had "received assurances from the government of China concerning the safety of the Uyghurs" and would "continue to follow up on the well-being of this group". 
The statement emphasised Thailand's "long tradition of humanitarianism" in providing assistance to displaced persons for more than half a century.

The ministry also reaffirmed the value Thailand places on its "long-standing and close treaty alliance with the United States, based on mutual respect and shared strategic interests".

The US State Department typically employs such "visa restrictions" rather than explicitly calling them sanctions or penalties. These measures function as diplomatic tools to signal disapproval of actions perceived as violations of human rights or democratic principles.

According to diplomatic sources, the US government generally keeps the names of sanctioned individuals confidential, creating uncertainty for those potentially affected and their family members. This confidentiality extends to the number of officials targeted, deliberately causing broader concern within government circles.

The visa restrictions may have limited impact on officials with no plans to travel to the United States. However, the ambiguity of such measures often creates apprehension about possible financial sanctions, which would have more significant consequences including potential asset freezes and banking restrictions.
 

Despite calls from human-rights organisations and some US lawmakers for greater transparency in naming sanctioned individuals, the US government has maintained its practice of confidential sanctions in this case as it has done in similar situations involving other countries.

The Uyghur deportation case represents the latest challenge in Thai-US relations, with Thailand attempting to balance its diplomatic ties with both the United States and China in an increasingly complex regional environment.