Falun Gong practitioners and supporters during an annual rally and demonstration at the National Mall in July, 2021, in Washington, DC. Activist Zhang Xinyan is a practitioner of Falun Gong.Alex Wong/Getty Images
A Chinese activist detained in Thailand has arrived in Canada, after police reportedly prevented her boarding a flight to Vancouver in July, according to supporters.
Activist Zhang Xinyan was one of 15 people last year elected to the Toronto-based dissident “Hong Kong Parliament” – which claims to represent Hong Kongers in exile – prompting authorities in the Chinese territory to place a $36,000 bounty on her head for subversion.
A practitioner of Falun Gong, a religious movement banned and heavily suppressed in China, Ms. Zhang had lived in Thailand since 2014, and held protected refugee status with the United Nations. In May, the 55-year-old was detained in Bangkok for allegedly overstaying her visa, prompting fears she would be deported to Hong Kong or mainland China.
Sheng Xue, a Toronto-based activist who raised attention to the case, said Ms. Zhang had been given approval to relocate to Canada, and was due to fly to Vancouver on July 8, but Thai police stopped her from boarding and detained her at the last minute.
That flight finally went ahead on Monday, however, Ms. Sheng said in an e-mail, sharing a photo of Ms. Zhang with supporters at Vancouver International Airport.
Ottawa says Hong Kong bounties for activists are a threat to Canadian sovereignty
Ms. Sheng said Ms. Zhang had been on the verge of being deported to China, but an intervention by Canadian diplomats stopped this. Pressure from Ottawa and the United Nations refugee agency, as well as an intervention by Thai lawmakers and international human-rights groups, eventually resulted in Ms. Zhang being allowed to leave Thailand, Ms. Sheng said.
“Once Thai authorities recognized Canada’s uncompromising stance, they abandoned their resistance and pivoted to ensuring her safe departure by all available means,” Ms. Sheng said.
“On the night before her flight, alongside Canadian diplomats who accompanied her, senior Thai police officers personally escorted Ms. Zhang. Under direct orders from senior commanders and with dedicated drivers, they safely escorted her all the way to Bangkok Airport to board her flight to Canada.”
In a statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said the country has a “long and proud tradition as a world leader in resettling refugees with compassion, respect, and dignity.” It declined to comment specifically on Ms. Zhang’s case, citing a need “to protect the safety and privacy of applicants and the integrity of our programs.”
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
Thailand is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, and has a dubious record when it comes to protecting the rights of asylum seekers. Last year, dozens of Uyghurs, some of whom had been in the country for a decade, were forcibly returned to China, despite warnings from human-rights groups and the United Nations that they faced risk of torture and ill treatment.
Around the same time Ms. Zhang was initially prevented from flying to Canada, the Thai authorities also detained another Chinese national, journalist Bai Zhaodong. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Reuters it had requested Mr. Bai’s extradition, accusing him of extortion and bribery.
Reporters Without Borders warned that, if returned, Mr. Bai would face “not only persecution but also grave risks to his personal safety,” and urged Bangkok to reject the request, which came while Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul was on a state visit to China.
U.S. lawmaker Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in July the possibility Mr. Bai or Ms. Zhang could be forcibly returned to China was “deeply concerning.”
“Thailand needs to uphold obligations against refoulement and ensure their immediate safety,” she said.
Phil Robertson, Bangkok-based director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates, said China was “hell-bent on transnational repression and chasing dissidents wherever they are in the world.”
Ms. Sheng said that in this case, efforts by the Chinese Communist Party had failed. She described Ms. Zhang’s arrival in Vancouver as a “major defeat for the CCP’s long-arm jurisdiction, diplomatic coercion, and transnational repression in Southeast Asia and beyond.”