With alphabetical seating at the Apec summit last week, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had a brief chance to speak again with US President Barack Obama. According to Gen Prayut, Mr Obama mentioned "human rights issues". In response, the prime minister said reports on the issues are usually misunderstandings, or made up by the media. Yet, almost as he was speaking, his military regime was sending two Chinese men back to China where they likely have already been mistreated, with worse to come.
Jiang Yefei and Dong Guangping were a couple of days away from leaving Thailand for Canada. A week earlier, Hong Kong publisher Gui Minghai disappeared at the hands of Thai immigration police. He, too, was reportedly rendered in response to Chinese government requests. Mr Gui and three previously arrested associates own a company that publishes material that makes Beijing authorities uncomfortable. (In a third case, the government is holding seven North Korean refugees who have asked Thai authorities to be patient while they apply for permission to move to South Korea.)
Such cases are important keys to the way the world views Thailand. This goes much deeper than criticism from the UN, the US, the EU and human rights groups. The Chinese renditions are being reported worldwide.
It was disappointing to hear the justification for deporting the two Chinese men. While every Thai knows the government is bowing to China's demands, National Security Council secretary-general Thawip Netniyom tried to spin it otherwise. He claimed officials scrutinised "laws and international agreements". He even claimed the two were suspected human traffickers. But laws also permit Thailand to act humanely towards foreign dissidents. And they are no more human traffickers than the Rohingya boat people or migrants from neighbouring countries are.
It is impossible to imagine the Chinese men will be publicly indicted and brought to court in Beijing on charges of human trafficking. Surely, even Gen Thawip knows the Chinese eagerness to lay hands on the men has no connection with such a crime. If he does, then logic dictates that every Thai official who fails to stop illegal migrants from working in Thailand deserves to be charged with abetting human trafficking.
A separate case of refugees claiming asylum arose as Gen Prayut was speaking to President Obama. Seven North Korean defectors were intercepted as they arrived in Nong Khai province. The four men and three women reported travelled from their country, through China and Laos, to Thailand. Like Mr Jiang and Mr Dong, their aim is to leave Thailand quickly, presumably for South Korea.
There is really nothing new about the North Koreans' plight. People fleeing that criminally brutal regime have arrived by the hundreds in Thailand over the years. The Seoul government has resettled most. There is no reasonable argument possible from either Pyongyang or its Chinese ally that could justify sending these or other North Koreans home.
Just last week, Thailand was one of a record 120 countries that voted in the United Nations against North Korean barbarity. Not only did the 120 condemn Pyongyang's violent suppression of basic rights, they also voted to consider referring North Korea's ghastly "leaders", including Kim Jong-un, to the International Criminal Court to face rather obvious accusations of crimes against humanity.
Thailand's actions must always match its words, yet neither the rendition of the Chinese nor Gen Prayut's claim to President Obama did this. The military regime should rethink its current policies. Relations with China are important, but never as important as the actions and the reputation of the nation.