"Thai" man arrested for vagrancy and illegal entry in China - but is he Thai as claimed

[webfact]

 

Doubts remain about a foreign man who was arrested for vagrancy and illegal entry into China in the city of Tianshui in Gansu province.

 

He says he is a Thai called Prakop Cheuasaeng, 45, from the Thungfon district of Udon Thani, reported Thai Rath.

 

He appears to have been in China since well before the pandemic.

 

He had no passport or other papers.

 

Officials in his home province said they have no one of that name on their books. They think he may be a hilltribesman.

 

A Thai woman living in Tianshui called Sukanya was brought in as interpreter.

 

Prakop could not sing the Thai national anthem correctly and did not know his ก-ฮ (gor to hor) - the Thai ABC.

 

He provided conflicting information over a three day period after which the Chinese immigration police decided to stop the interrogation. 

 

But they are not sure where to send him next.

 

It has also emerged that Prakop was arrested in Yunan province 14 years ago so was thought to have been in China at least 15 years. 
 

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[ignore it]

So lacking in alternatives, they decided he was not a Thai, but a Uighur practioner of Falun Gong and they sent him off to do slave labor until his organs were needed for transplanting.

[soalbundy]

No passport, so how did he get to China? After 15 years he probably spoke better Chinese than Thai and he must have been working and living somewhere.

[NoDisplayName]

The southern border of China with Vietnam and Laos is relatively porous, less so with Myanmar.  In many places it's possible to climb a 1.5m fence or wade an ankle-deep stream.  There are a number of local crossings he could have gotten through, and even some spots markets are set up directly on the border, where it's no problem to simply walk through ending up across the border.

 

Visit the border market, admire the lovely border marker.....

 

Hey!  Those aren't Chinese flags!  Oooops!

[KhaoNiaw]

It would be interesting to know if he spoke central Thai or Isan dialects, which would seem a better indicator than the alphabet or the national anthem after such a long period of time. Yunan has a large ethnic Tai population so if he was only using a dialect from that region, it would probably mean he's Chinese? I'm guessing they looked into that though? 

[StayinThailand2much]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

Prakop could not sing the Thai national anthem correctly and did not know his ก-ฮ (gor to hor) - the Thai ABC.

????????

 

Reminds me of the story of the handicapped Hong Kong boy, who, years ago, had somehow made it without a passport to mainland China, and after sending him back and forth, Hong Kong Immigration finally sent him "back" to mainland China, cause his clothes were made in China, and he couldn't name popular Hong Kong pop stars. He was never seen or heard of again...

[sammieuk1]

Reciting the Thai anthem and ABC relies on it being taught to him if he went to school many don't ????  

[marin]

25 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Reciting the Thai anthem and ABC relies on it being taught to him if he went to school many don't 

Many? Not many at all. 10%? Totally illiterate today?

[sammieuk1]

20 minutes ago, marin said:

Many? Not many at all. 10%? Totally illiterate today?

So about 7m? by your calculation or many in mine ???? 

[In the jungle]

Is he incapable of driving?

 

Does he believe lottery numbers can be predicted by worshipping a rock?

 

What is his amulet count?

 

 

[BayArea]

7 hours ago, KhaoNiaw said:

Yunan has a large ethnic Tai population so if he was only using a dialect from that region, it would probably mean he's Chinese?

By looking at him, he doesn't look Chinese or southern Chinese for that matter and if your hypothesis is correct, wouldn't he be one of the Tai minorities then? But if he was, Tai names in the region are not similar to Thai national in Thailand, not even close. 

Lastly, when you say he's Chinese, do you mean Chinese national/ citizenship? 

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, ignore it said:

So lacking in alternatives, they decided he was not a Thai, but a Uighur practioner of Falun Gong and they sent him off to do slave labor until his organs were needed for transplanting.

You beat me to it... I'm sure they have a safe house in mind for him.

[daveAustin]

Cue the Thai authorities to dismiss him as thoroughly as possible…. Thai person committed a crime?, entered illegally, etc etc; must be a minority, must be an immigrant, definitely not Thai, never! lol