Former Mainland Chinese Caijing investigative journalist Bai Zhaodong, exiled in Thailand, faces deportation; international human rights organisations urge Thai authorities not to deport him

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On July 21, 2026, this website learned that, according to information obtained by Reporters Without Borders and Safeguard Defenders from local sources, Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong, currently detained at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok, is at risk of being deported to China under pressure from the Chinese government.

On July 16, 2026, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that it had requested Bai Zhaodong’s extradition from Thailand and urged the Thai side to “deport him as soon as possible.”

Reporters Without Borders and Safeguard Defenders called on the Thai authorities not to deport the detained prominent Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong to China. Because he had exposed corruption cases at the highest levels of the Chinese government, if deported to his home country, he would face foreseeable and imminent serious risks, including enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture and other cruel, inhuman treatment. The Thai authorities have an obligation to comply with international law and ensure that Bai Zhaodong’s rights are fully protected.

Amnesty International also called on the Thai government to fulfil its international human rights obligations and abide by the principle of non-refoulement; the Chinese government should also stop pressuring other countries to deport refugees, asylum seekers and other people facing risks.

Profile of Bai Zhaodong: Born on January 10, 1970, he is from Hengshan District, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, and is a former investigative journalist for Caijing. In 2015, he joined the Legal and Public Affairs Group of Caijing magazine and was engaged for many years in in-depth investigative reporting on the judicial, political-business and social spheres. His investigative works include the series “The Hundred-Billion-Yuan Fake Gold Loan Fraud Case,” “Qinghai Alkali Industry’s 3.3 Billion Yuan in Assets Taken Over at Half Price by a Local State-Owned Enterprise,” “Turbulence in Gansu’s Officialdom: Several Officials Jump into the Yellow River,” and “The Qinling Mountains’ Super Illegal Villas,” which attracted widespread attention in the public sphere. In the years before leaving China for Thailand, he focused on the power and grey-interest structures in Shaanxi and northwestern China. Representative reports include “Uncovering the Interest Chain Behind Yan’an’s Private Lending” and “Shaanxi’s Version of the ‘Sun Xiaoguo Case’: After Robbing, Escaping Prison and Killing a Police ‘Informant,’ He Mysteriously Got Out of Prison and Became a Coal Boss.”