Thailand Faces Pressure Over Potential Deportation of Chinese Journalist Bai Zhaodong

China has formally asked Thailand to “promptly return” Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong, who has been held at a Bangkok immigration centre since January 2026. Thai authorities have barred him from leaving the country while the extradition request is considered. The request arrives as Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul prepares to meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

The Straits Times

Bai, a reporter who exposed a large corruption and financial-fraud network involving local officials and senior members of the Chinese Communist Party, fled China in 2023. In 2024 the Public Security Bureau in Yulin issued an arrest warrant accusing him of extortion and bribery. Since his arrival in Thailand, rights groups say he has faced intensified surveillance and criminal charges in China, prompting fears of political persecution.

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The Chinese Foreign Ministry asserted that the government “protects its citizens’ freedom of speech according to law” and highlighted achievements in China’s journalism sector. Thailand’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the extradition request. Rights-advocacy organisations—Reporters Without Borders and Safeguard Defenders—issued a joint statement warning that deporting Bai would expose him to “foreseeable, present, personal and real risk of political persecution, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other serious human rights violations.”

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Safeguard Defenders’ director Laura Harth urged Thai authorities to resist Chinese pressure and uphold international and domestic prohibitions against torture. Reporters Without Borders’ advocacy manager Aleksandra Bielakowska warned that forced return would endanger Bai’s personal safety. Both groups called on Thailand to honor its commitments to human-rights protections and to reject the extradition request.

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• “The Chinese government protects its citizens' freedom of speech according to law, and the achievements in the development of its journalism sector are clear for all to see,” — Chinese Foreign Ministry

The Straits Times

• “Thai authorities must withstand the growing pressure from (China) to forcibly detain and return individuals sought for clear political persecution by the Chinese Communist Party and uphold its commitments under international and domestic torture prohibitions,” — Laura Harth, Safeguard Defenders

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• “Should Bai be forcibly returned to China, he would face not only persecution but also grave risks to his personal safety.” — Aleksandra Bielakowska, Reporters Without Borders

The Straits Times

• “It said Bai faces "foreseeable, present, personal and real risk of political persecution, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other serious human rights violations" if deported to China.” — Safeguard Defenders statement

The Straits Times