The Chinese Foreign Ministry says everybody is getting upset over nothing.
“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,” it said in a deflective statement to Reuters (July 16, 2026).
Bai Zhaodong (shown above) is a Chinese journalist who has been detained by the Thailand government since January of this year. It is holding him in an immigration center and won’t let him leave the country.
China has submitted an extradition request to Thailand for the “prompt return” of Bai, the Chinese Foreign Ministry told Reuters in a written response, saying he was suspected of extortion and bribery by a non-public servant….
Bai exposed a large corruption and financial fraud network implicating local government officials and higher-ranking officials in the Chinese Communist Party, the rights groups [Reporters Without Borders, and Safeguard Defenders] said. This led to persecution by the authorities, including intensified surveillance, criminal charges, interrogations and detentions, they said….
Bai fled China in 2023, and the next year the Public Security Bureau in the Chinese city of Yulin issued an arrest warrant against him, they said.
“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, a director at Safeguard Defenders, said in Wednesday’s statement.
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.
In the CCP’s book, “freedom of speech according to law” means freedom to say anything except all the things that one is forbidden to say, which seem to include independent reporting on government corruption and fraud.
For Chinese escaping the People’s Republic of China, one good thing about Thailand is that it’s easier to get to at least as a first stop than many other countries. And many rights and refugee organizations have a presence in Thailand. But recent Thai governments have often proved susceptible to Chinese pressure.
