Chinese exiles in Thailand fear deportation as bilateral ties grow

With tears rolling down his cheeks, detained Chinese political exile Zhou Junyi struggles to make his voice heard over dozens of families visiting Bangkok's main immigration detention centre.

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Mr Zhou's China Democracy Party, an exile group, organised a commemoration on June 4 in Kanchanaburi, west of Bangkok, for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.

"Chinese people still feel in their hearts the need for democracy," said Mr Zhou. "Even if they cannot express it or say it openly, it is there."

Thai police arrested the 53-year-old at his home in the capital eight days after the ceremony, ostensibly for visa offences.

He now faces deportation for which he blames Beijing.

"I'm anxious; I've lost hope," he told AFP.

Mr Zhou fears immediate arrest, torture and a long prison sentence if he is sent back to China, which he fled 10 years ago after attending a pro-democracy conference in the US.

UN figures show that around 200 Chinese exiles have sought refuge in Thailand in recent years, but activists say pressure from Beijing is raising the risk of forced deportation.

Alongside Mr Zhou at the detention centre, Mr Tan Yixiang shouted across a metre-wide space between two wire mesh fences.

A vocal advocate for Tibetan and Uighur rights, Mr Tan is a UN-recognised refugee but has been held by Thai immigration for more than a year. "I will never sing the praises of dictatorship. I speak up for human rights," the 48-year-old said.

Both men are seeking asylum from third countries.

Thailand has a complex and ambivalent attitude. Porous borders and a reputation for religious and cultural tolerance have long drawn those seeking sanctuary, but Bangkok does not legally recognise refugees or offer asylum.