UIGHURS DEPORTED TO CHINA

Cambodia deported 20 ethnic Uighurs. China praised it for this action and said the deportees will be treated as illegal immigrants. The comments came as a top Chinese official began a visit to Phnom Penh to boost commercial ties. The Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim minority involved in rioting in western China that killed nearly 200 people in July, were smuggled into Cambodia in recent weeks and applied for asylum at the United Nations refugee agency office in Phnom Penh. They were deported to China for breaking immigration laws, the Cambodia government said. Human rights groups have said they feared for the lives of the Uighurs if they were deported to China. The U.N. refugee agency also condemned the deportations. China is Cambodia’s biggest investor, having poured more than $4 billion in foreign direct investment into the country.