CPJ, partners call on Thailand not to deport detained journalist Bai Zhaodong to China

The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined 58 other press freedom and civil society organizations in calling on Thailand to halt the forcible return of detained Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong to China.

Bai, a former reporter with Caijing magazine and an investigative journalist for over 25 years, has been held in immigration detention in Thailand since January 26, 2026.

The letter says he faces “a grave, foreseeable, personal, and real risk of political persecution, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, and other serious human rights violations” if deported to China.

In September 2024, Yulin City’s Security Bureau issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of “extortion” after his reporting exposed an alleged corruption and financial fraud network involving local government and Chinese Communist Party officials.

Bai has faced sustained harassment for his investigative reporting on official corruption and fraud, including surveillance, intimidation, interrogation and detention, according to the joint letter.

It calls on the Thai government to “halt any deportation or forcible return” of Bai to China and to facilitate his “safe transfer to a third country willing to provide him with international protection.”

Read the full letter here.