On July 8, a woman who had every reason to believe her years of uncertainty were finally over arrived at Bangkok’s airport carrying something more valuable than luggage: hope.

Ms. Zhang Xinyan, a United Nations-recognized refugee, had completed Canada’s emergency resettlement process. Canadian officials had reportedly interviewed her, conducted medical examinations, collected biometrics, and booked her commercial flight to Vancouver. She was preparing to begin a new life in freedom.

Instead, Thai authorities reportedly stopped her at the departure gate.

Rather than boarding a plane to safety, Ms. Zhang was reportedly taken into custody and transferred to Bangkok’s Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center. Today, there are credible fears that she could be forcibly returned to the People’s Republic of China — the very country from which the United Nations has already recognized she fled persecution.

If that happens, the consequences could be irreversible.

Zhang Xinyan is not merely another immigration detainee. She is a longtime Falun Gong practitioner, a Chinese dissident, and an elected member of the Hong Kong Parliament-in-Exile. According to those familiar with her case, Chinese authorities have targeted her because of her religious beliefs and political activities. If returned to China, she faces a substantial risk of arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance, or prolonged imprisonment.

Her case is also a test of whether democratic nations will stand together against one of the Chinese Communist Party’s fastest-growing tools of repression: transnational persecution.

A Familiar and Disturbing Pattern

Sadly, this would not be the first time Thailand has become the setting for such a tragedy.

In November 2015, Chinese human rights defenders Dong Guangping and Jiang Yefei — both recognized by the United Nations as refugees and approved for resettlement in Canada — were forcibly returned from Thailand to China before they could board their flights. Their deportation became one of the clearest and most disturbing examples of the Chinese Communist Party successfully extending its authoritarian reach beyond its own borders.

More than a decade later, the human cost of that betrayal is still unfolding.

Mr. Dong Guangping has only recently succeeded in reaching Canada after an extraordinary fourth escape attempt. After years of imprisonment and persecution following his forced repatriation, he reportedly sailed hundreds of miles by boat to South Korea before finally obtaining refuge in Canada. His remarkable journey is a powerful testimony to the resilience of the human spirit and the unquenchable desire for freedom.

The story of my friend, Christian artist and human rights defender Jiang Yefei, is even more heartbreaking. After his forced return to China, he reportedly endured years of brutal torture and abuse during six and a half years of imprisonment. According to his wife, who has faithfully advocated for him from Canada throughout his ordeal, the torture may have left him blind. No refugee should ever have to endure such suffering after the international community had already promised protection.

Ms. Zhang Xinyan now stands at the very edge of the same abyss.

If Thailand permits her forcible return to China, the world cannot say it did not know what was likely to happen. We have already witnessed the consequences once. We must not allow history to repeat itself.

The Stakes Extend Beyond One Woman

The principle at stake is larger than Ms. Zhang herself.

International refugee protection rests upon one foundational rule: the principle of non-refoulement — the prohibition against returning refugees to countries where they face persecution.

This principle is not merely a legal doctrine. It is one of humanity’s clearest moral commitments following the horrors of the 20th century.

When a UNHCR-recognized refugee who has already been accepted for resettlement by a democratic nation can still be intercepted and returned to her persecutors, the credibility of the entire international refugee protection system is weakened.

Moreover, Beijing is carefully watching.

Every successful act of transnational repression emboldens the Chinese Communist Party to intensify its campaign against dissidents, religious believers, Hong Kong democracy advocates, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners, and human rights defenders living abroad.

Silence invites repetition.

America’s Leadership Still Matters

The United States has long been the world’s leading defender of religious freedom and refugee protection.

Congress established the Congressional-Executive Commission on China precisely to confront abuses like this. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has repeatedly documented China’s egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief. The U.S. State Department has consistently condemned Beijing’s growing campaign of transnational repression.

Now these institutions have an opportunity — and a responsibility — to act before it is too late.

The State Department should immediately engage the Royal Thai Government at the highest diplomatic levels. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China and USCIRF should publicly urge Thailand to uphold its humanitarian obligations. U.S. officials should work closely with the Canadian government to ensure immediate access to Ms. Zhang by UNHCR and Canadian representatives and facilitate her prompt departure to Canada under the resettlement arrangements that have already been completed.

Time is of the essence.

Every hour that Ms. Zhang remains in detention increases the danger that she could disappear into China’s prison system, where international access and accountability become exceedingly difficult.

A Defining Moment

Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly commands His people to defend the oppressed, protect the stranger, and rescue those being led away to death.

These timeless principles should also guide free nations.

The Chinese Communist Party increasingly seeks to erase the distinction between domestic persecution and international sovereignty by exporting its repression far beyond China’s borders. If democratic governments allow authoritarian pressure to dictate the fate of internationally recognized refugees, the consequences will extend far beyond this single case. Other authoritarian regimes will learn that intimidation works and that international refugee protections can be overridden through political coercion.

Ms. Zhang Xinyan should never become another Dong Guangping — or another Jiang Yefei.

She has already been recognized as a refugee by the United Nations.

She has already been accepted for humanitarian resettlement by Canada.

She has already completed the final steps required for her journey to freedom.

She simply needs to be allowed to board the flight that should have carried her to safety.

The United States, Canada, Thailand, and other democratic governments still have an opportunity to ensure that happens.

They should seize it now — before another innocent life disappears behind the walls of China’s prisons, and before the world is forced once again to lament a tragedy that could have been prevented.