After detaining them in squalid short-term holding facilities for more than a decade, Thailand deported 40 Uyghur asylum seekers to China on Feb. 27. Human rights groups had been urging the Thai government for over a month to halt any plans to deport the group—though senior officials denied there were any such plans. The removals were carried out in a pre-dawn operation using trucks with blacked-out windows, flanked by police. The Chinese embassy in Bangkok described the men as "illegal immigrants" and said they would "return to normal life." But rights groups, as well as relatives of the asylum seekers living abroad, worry that the group will remain detained in China—or be sentenced to death. China has previously labelled anyone seeking asylum abroad as a "terrorist." The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, said the deportations were "a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement" and international law.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Dec. 27 called on the Chinese government to immediately release Liu Hanbin, a blogger who was arrested one month earlier following his publication of information regarding a protest by farmers against forced land seizures. RSF's Asia-Pacific bureau director Cédric Alviani stated:

Chinese blogger Liu Hanbin was only serving the public interest by shedding light on abuses linked to land seizures, and should never be detained, let alone denied the right to meet with his lawyer. We call on the international community to build up pressure on the Chinese authorities to secure Liu's release alongside the 124 other journalists and press freedom defenders detained in the country.

The organization condemned Liu's detention as part of a broader pattern of repression against journalists and activists in China. The incident marked Liu as the 125th journalist currently detained by the Chinese authorities, raising significant concerns about freedom of expression in the country.

The Russian and Mongolian militaries completed the main phase of a joint exercise Aug. 26—marking the first time Mongolia has hosted drills involving a foreign army within its territory. The maneuvers, dubbed Selenga 2024, were centered around the eastern city of Choibalsan, near the border with China. Armaments including drones, MiG-29 and Su-25 warplanes, Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters, and Grad rocket launchers were deployed in the main phase of the drill, which simulated a "joint Russian-Mongolian group of troops" retaking a settlement that had been seized by "illegal armed groups," according to the Russian military.

Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Shokhin Samadi on April 6 denied claims by Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev that Ukraine has been recruiting mercenaries for its military in the country's territory. Patrushev charged that Kyiv's embassy in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, has been recruiting Tajikistan nationals to join the International Legion of the Ukrainian army, in return for a pathway to Ukrainian citizenship. The comments were made during a meting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Kazakhstan.

Chinese authorities have reportedly made mass arrests in the ethnically Tibetan region of western Sichuan province amid protests against a giant hydro-electric dam project that would force villages to vacate and destroy ancient Buddhist monasteries. According to Radio Free Asia, authorities arrested over 100 villagers and monks at a Feb. 22 demonstration in Wonpotod (also rendered Wongpo Tok; Chinese: Wangbuding) township, Derge (Chinese: Dege) county in Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan. The current status of those detained remains unknown.  

Police in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Feb. 15 detained Aqylbek Muratbai, an activist who has been working to raise international awareness about the bloody crackdown on a mass protest in his native Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of western Uzbekistan, in July 2022. It is feared that Kazakh authorities intend to deport him to Uzbekistan, where he could face a severe prison sentence. 

The US Department of State has announced visa restrictions on Chinese officials linked to the systematic "forced assimilation" of over a million Tibetan children in state-operated boarding schools. This decision is part of a broader strategy by the Biden administration to address China's treatment of its ethnic minorities, with a particular focus on the Tibetan and Xinjiang Uighur regions.

Canada has launched an inquiry into accusations over use of Uyghur forced labor by Western corporations Nike and Dynasty Gold. Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise Sheri Meyerhoffer announced the inquiry July 11 as part of a broader initiative to evaluate grievances against corporations operating within Canada. Both Nike and Dynasty Gold are believed to have derived advantages from the utilization of coerced labor involving Uyghurs in the People's Republic of China. While the initial evaluation stipulates that Nike has not engaged in the direct use of such labor, the company's association with Chinese third-party entities does not absolve it of accountability. Nike contends that it has terminated relationships with Chinese third-party companies implicated in employing coerced labor.