19 year-old Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong barred entry into Bangkok 'at China's request'
NB: Nothing exposes the brittle nature of totalitarian tyranny more than the vision of'the People's Republic of China sabotaging a 19 year-old activists' entry into Thailand because he speaks of human rights and democracy. Shame on the Chinese Communist Party! Masters of a world power are running scared of one young man because he shows you up for what you are! Tyrants! DS
Support the Chinese peoples' decades-long struggle for democracy!
Support the Chinese peoples' decades-long struggle for democracy!
Hong Kong’s best-known
democracy campaigner, Joshua Wong, has accused Thailand’s military junta of
political “suppression” after he was barred from entering the country,
apparently after Beijing asked for his name to be placed on a travel blacklist.
Speaking after arriving back in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon, the teenage activist described how he had spent almost 12 hours inside a detention centre at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport after he was picked up by Thai police when he landed in Bangkok the previous night.
Speaking after arriving back in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon, the teenage activist described how he had spent almost 12 hours inside a detention centre at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport after he was picked up by Thai police when he landed in Bangkok the previous night.
Wong, 19, who became
an international symbol of the fight for democracy during Hong Kong’s 2014
umbrella movement street protests, said about 20 police officers had taken him
into custody at about midnight on Tuesday. “For almost 12 hours I
was detained alone inside a cell,” he told reporters. “When I asked what the
reason for them detaining me … they just said: ‘We will not give you any
explanation. You have been blacklisted already.’ “When I requested to
contact my lawyer in Thailand or at least notify my parents that I had already
arrived in Bangkok, they still rejected my request,” he added. “
It is really
out of my expectation to have this kind of suppression from the Thailand government.
For me, I think this is illegal detention.” Wong touched down in
Hong Kong at about 3.40pm on Wednesday having spent the night being questioned
at Suvarnabhumi airport. The activist had been
due to speak about his quest for democracy at Chulalongkorn University in
Bangkok on Thursday.
His speech was to be
part of events marking the 40th anniversary of a massacre of pro-democracy
students by Thai security forces and royalist militias in 1976. However, Pruthipong
Prayoonsiri, the deputy commander of the Suvarnabhumi immigration office, told
Thailand’s the Nation website that China had sent a request for Wong’s
entry to be denied. “As a result, the
immigration bureau blacklisted him and held him for deportation. When officers
informed him, Joshua Wong did not oppose it,” Pruthipong was quoted as saying.
According to a
Thai security report obtained by the Associated Press, more than 10
police officers, including some from the Royal Thai Police special branch, were
waiting for Wong when he arrived.
The activist was
interrogated and told he could not use his smartphone or laptop, the report
added. Wong’s supporters said he had been held “incommunicado” by Thai police.
At just before noon on
Wednesday, almost 12 hours after he was detained, Wong was put on a Hong Kong
Airlines flight from Bangkok back to the former British colony. Speaking at the
airport, Wong said he had hoped to share his political points of view with Thai
students and was “totally disappointed” with his treatment.
On Wednesday afternoon
the Thai junta released what appeared to be a contradictory statement saying
“there had been no instruction or order given pertaining to Mr Wong” but then
explaining why he had been detained and deported. “Mr Wong had been
active in resistance movements against other foreign governments, and that if
such actions were taken within Thailand, they could eventually affect
Thailand’s relations with other nations,” said spokesman Lt Gen Sansern
Kaewkamnerd.
Earlier on Wednesday
supporters gathered outside the Thai consulate in Hong Kong holding placards
that read “Shame on Thai government” and “Stop human rights violation”. Agnes Chow, the deputy
general secretary of Wong’s political party, said she believed Beijing had
deliberately blocked his entry into Thailand to prevent him from “spreading
democratic ideas”. Chow, 19, said Hong
Kong campaigners would not be intimidated by China’s actions. “We will not give
up the fight for democracy and the fight against the Chinese government which
disrespects human rights,” she said.
Jason Ng, a Hong Kong
author who helped arrange Wong’s trip, said Thailand’s refusal to admit the
activist showed “how ready Beijing is to flex its diplomatic muscles and [how
it] expects neighbouring governments to play ball”. Hong Kong’s young
pro-democracy activists were now “at the mercy of some Chinese no-fly list,” Ng
added. “Why is Beijing so afraid of Joshua Wong?”
The incident is the latest to underline how
Thailand has drifted into China’s orbit since a 2014 coup returned the country
to military rule. Since the junta took
power it has allowed Chinese dissidents and scores of Uighur refugees to be
forcibly returned to China at
Beijing’s request.
Last October the Hong
Kong bookseller Gui
Minhai vanished from his home in the Thai town of Pattaya. Gui, who
many believe was kidnapped by Chinese security agents, is being held in custody
at an unknown location in mainland China.
“This is unthinkable,
despicable,” Claudia Mo, a veteran pro-democracy lawmaker, said of the
recurrent deportations. “What has become of the [Thai] government? Has it
become an anti-democracy airline for the Beijing government? “We need a full
explanation and we demand an apology from the Thai government to Hong Kong
people,” added Mo, a Civic party politician who was among those who had
gathered to greet Wong at the airport on Wednesday afternoon. “If this becomes
a precedent it means it could happen to you or me at any time if somehow
Beijing thinks you are a dangerous, unwelcome person.”
Netiwit
Chotipatpaisal, the Thai student activist organising Wong’s visit, criticised
his country’s growing embrace of the Communist party. “Thailand should stay out
of the Chinese sphere of power, but we’re not able to do this,” he said. A spokesperson for the
US embassy in Bangkok said: “We support individuals exercising their
universally recognised fundamental freedoms of opinion, expression, peaceful
assembly and association throughout the world.”
In a brief statement
China’s foreign ministry said it had “noticed the relevant reports” about
Wong’s situation. “China respects Thailand’s exercise of immigration control
according to the law,” it added.
see also
Tom Phillips - Beijing shuts down art exhibition on violence against women
The Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang
The Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang
