Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the international human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders urgently appealed to Thai authorities on July 15th not to repatriate detained Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong back to China.
According to RSF and Safeguard Defenders, they have received information from local sources that Bai Zhaodong, currently detained at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok, is facing the risk of being sent back to China under pressure from the Chinese Communist Party. This news comes at a time when Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is scheduled to visit China from July 16th to 20th.
On July 16th, Reuters reported that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a written response to Reuters, stated that they had requested Thailand to extradite Bai Zhaodong and urged Thai authorities to “repatriate him as soon as possible.”
Safeguard Defenders issued a statement on their website on July 15th calling for the rescue of Bai Zhaodong. They expressed concern that if Bai Zhaodong is sent back to China, he will face foreseeable and grave risks including forced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, and other cruel and inhuman treatment.
Safeguard Defenders emphasized that Thai authorities have an obligation to comply with international law and ensure that Bai Zhaodong’s rights are fully protected.
Bai Zhaodong, originally from Hengshan District in Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, was born in 1970. Public records show that he has been actively involved in in-depth investigative journalism in the fields of judiciary, politics, business, and society. His investigative works have generated widespread attention in the public domain.
Before leaving China for Thailand a few years ago, Bai Zhaodong focused on power and gray interest structures in Shaanxi and northwest China. His reports included uncovering corruption cases at the highest levels of the Chinese government.
RSF and Safeguard Defenders stated that Bai Zhaodong has been conducting investigative reporting in China for over 25 years, and recently worked for a well-known financial magazine in Beijing. He exposed a large-scale corruption and financial fraud network involving money laundering and other illegal financial activities, implicating local government officials and senior Chinese Communist Party members.
Due to the sensitive nature of Bai Zhaodong’s investigations involving high-ranking officials and sensitive cases, the Chinese authorities have viewed his reports as highly sensitive. According to RSF, after the publication of his reports, he has been subjected to monitoring, intimidation, and pressure from local and central government departments.
As a result of his prolonged exposure of corruption and financial fraud issues in Shaanxi Province, Bai Zhaodong has faced retaliation from the Chinese authorities throughout his journalistic career, including six instances of criminal charges, interrogation, and detention.
Bai Zhaodong successfully fled China on November 29, 2023. In September 2024, the Yulin City Public Security Bureau issued an arrest warrant against him on fabricated charges of extortion. Since then, Thai authorities have prevented Bai Zhaodong from relocating to a safe third country and have banned him from leaving the country. Since January 2026, he has been detained by Thai authorities.
Earlier reports indicated that Bai Zhaodong went missing in Thailand on November 27, 2025; in February 2026, an article seeking help for investigative journalist Bai Zhaodong circulated widely online, but was soon blocked in China, possibly under pressure, and the original author appeared to have deleted the article.
Given Bai Zhaodong’s situation and predicament, Aleksandra Bielakowska, Advocacy Manager at RSF Asia-Pacific, stated that if Bai Zhaodong is repatriated to China, he will not only be persecuted but also face serious threats to his personal safety.
According to RSF, China currently has 120 journalists imprisoned, making it the country with the highest number of detained journalists globally. As highlighted in RSF’s latest report on the use of national security laws to suppress journalists, the Chinese government often charges journalists with vaguely defined crimes such as espionage, subversion of state power, or provocation.
Journalists are also frequently subjected to “residential surveillance at designated locations”, a pre-trial secret detention system where individuals may be held in undisclosed detention facilities and subjected to solitary confinement for up to six months. The UN Human Rights Council’s special procedures have repeatedly concluded that this system constitutes enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and torture.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Chinese political refugees in Thailand face increasing danger due to pressure from the Chinese government. Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and lacks effective national mechanisms to assess asylum claims.
HRW emphasized that the Thai government is obliged to respect the principle of nonrefoulement under international law, which prohibits sending individuals back to places where they may face persecution, torture, or other forms of ill-treatment, threat to life, or other severe human rights violations. Nonrefoulement is explicitly prohibited by the UN Convention against Torture, to which Thailand is a party, and is also prohibited under customary international law. Nonrefoulement has also been incorporated into Thailand’s 2023 Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act.
In recent years, the Thai government has, on several occasions, repatriated individuals under pressure from the Chinese government. In February 2025, Thailand repatriated 40 Uyghur males who had been detained in Thailand for 10 years after fleeing China in 2013 and 2014. Their current situation upon returning to China remains unclear.
In July 2015, Thai authorities forcibly handed over more than a hundred Uyghur males to Chinese authorities, who then transported them from Bangkok to China.