Thai NSC chief visits ethnic Uyghurs in China

BANGKOK, July 15 (TNA) - National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Anusit Kunakorn has left for China to observe the livelihood of 109 ethnic Uyghurs who were repatriated to their home country last week. Before his departure from Bangkok on Wednesday morning, Anusit told journalists that his trip followed a previously-sealed agreement between Bangkok and Beijing and has nothing to do with any international pressure on the repatriation of the illegal Uyghur migrants by the Thai government last week. Anusit said he is scheduled to visit Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, to talk with the 109 repatriated Uyghur people. According to the NSC chief, the Chinese government promised to provide residences and careers to the 109 repatriated Uyghur people so that they would not be lured into any wrongdoing. The NSC chief noted that he is also scheduled to meet Meng Jianzhu, a member of China's 25-member politburo, but he had no idea whether a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would be there to also meet the repatriated Uyghurs. In response to a recent comment that political groups are behind persistent violence in the Thai Far South, the NSC secretary-general stressed that there is no evidence to show that any political party has been behind violent unrest in the Thai Deep South, pointing out that the situation in the southernmost Thai region resulted from people with different stances. (TNA)