Chinese activist Zhang Xinyan has arrived in Canada after being held in Thai immigration detention, supporters said, a month after she was stopped from boarding a Bangkok-Vancouver flight.
The 55-year-old Chinese national, also known as Lily Zhang, arrived at Vancouver International Airport on Monday 3 July 2026 and was welcomed by supporters, according to a photograph posted online by Toronto-based activist Sheng Xue.
Ms Zhang had been held at Bangkok's Suan Phlu immigration detention centre since her arrest on May 7 for overstaying her visa. Supporters feared she could be deported.
Second flight succeeds
Ms Zhang moved to Thailand in 2014 after leaving China, where she said she faced persecution because of her involvement in Falun Gong, the spiritual movement banned in China. She is one of several Hong Kong democracy campaigners living in exile overseas.
She already had refugee status approved by the UN, and Ms Sheng said she began efforts to secure her resettlement. Canadian officials investigated the case and approved her application.
The Canadian embassy booked a July 8 flight from Bangkok to Vancouver, but Thai authorities did not allow Ms Zhang to board. She was returned to the detention centre.
According to Ms Sheng, pressure from Ottawa and the UN refugee agency, along with intervention by Thai lawmakers and international human rights groups, eventually led to Ms Zhang being allowed to leave.
"Once Thai authorities recognised Canada's uncompromising stance, they abandoned their resistance and pivoted to ensuring her safe departure by all available means," Ms Sheng wrote in an email to the Globe and Mail.
She said senior Thai police officers escorted Ms Zhang to Suvarnabhumi Airport on the night before her successful flight, alongside Canadian diplomats.
Hong Kong warrant and deportation fears
Ms Zhang is among 19 overseas-based activists targeted by Hong Kong police arrest warrants issued in July 2025 for alleged subversion under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. Bounties for their capture ranged from HK$200,000 to HK$1 million.
Had she been returned to Hong Kong, Ms Zhang would have been the first person charged under the law to be deported and imprisoned, according to the report.
At about the time Ms Zhang was first prevented from travelling, Thai authorities also detained Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong. He remains in immigration detention, while China has sought his extradition on accusations of extortion and bribery.
Ms Sheng called Ms Zhang's arrival a "major defeat for the CCP's long-arm jurisdiction, diplomatic coercion and transnational repression in Southeast Asia and beyond".
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5 August 2026
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