Thailand's deportation of 40 Uyghurs to China last week was in the Southeast Asian country's best interest due to the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the group was sent elsewhere, a Thai minister said on Thursday.

The State Department says the United States and other countries made repeated offers to Thailand to resettle more than three dozen Uyghur men before they were deported back to China, where rights grou

Thai minister claims the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the Uyghur refugees are sent to another country.

Rights groups criticized the Thai government for sending the Uyghurs, a persecuted Muslim minority, back to China, where they face the risk of torture and imprisonment.

The US condemned "in the strongest possible terms" Thailand's return of 40 Uygur men to China on Thursday and called for Beijing to provide regular access to verify their well-being. "As Thailand's long-standing ally,

Canada and the United States offered to resettle 48 ethnic Uyghurs held in detention in Thailand over the past decade, sources told Reuters, but Bangkok took no action for fear of upsetting China, where they were covertly deported last week.

China has assured Thailand that 40 Chinese Uyghurs it returned on Thursday would be looked after, Thailand's defence minister said, confirming a secretive pre-dawn deportation that the United Nations and human rights groups condemned.

BANGKOK: Thailand's deportation of 40 Uighurs to China last week was in the South-east Asian country's best interest due to the possibility of retaliation from Beijing if the group was sent elsewhere,

Thailand defended its deportation of 40 Uyghur detainees to China last week as the “best solution” to avoid a backlash from Beijing, after a rights group said the move violated international law and the returnees could face torture.