A military court in Thailand charged two men with the bombing of a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people.
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But senior Thai government officials say Thailand has not turned 180 degrees toward China, despite a chill in ties between Bangkok and Washington following the 2014 coup.
It is not clear what all they have been charged with.
The two suspects – identified as Bilal Mohammad and Mieraili Yusufu – were indicted on 10 charges connected to the blast in August at the temple, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Thai capital. Time stamps on closed circuit TV footage showed he left the shrine just minutes before the blast occurred, during evening rush hour as the area in central Bangkok was filled with people.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei at a daily news briefing said he hoped the trial would bring “the offenders to justice and allows them to receive due punishment”.
The motive for the bombing remains unclear and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. They include conspiracy to explode bombs and commit premeditated murder, Chuchart said.
“They violated immigration law and after checking we found that there was an arrest warrant from the source country”, Prayuth said, alluding to China.
Former National Police Chief Somyot Poomphanmuang said before his retirement in September that the case against the two suspects was supported by closed-circuit television footage, witnesses, DNA matching and physical evidence, in addition to their confessions.
Strong speculation had centred on a link to militants or supporters of the Uighurs, an ethnic group who say they face persecution in their homeland in China’s Xinjiang region, after Thailand in July forcibly deported a group of 109 Uighurs back to China.
In August the United Nations said it was “appalled” by the record jail sentences of 30 and 28 years handed to two Thais for royal defamation for “insulting” the monarchy on Facebook.
On Thursday and Friday, the Chinese and Thai air forces will conduct their first joint exercises.
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Chinese fighter jets thunder through blue skies above an air force base in northeast Thailand, a symbol of the blossoming military and political ties between the junta-run country and its authoritarian northern neighbour. China has said the exercises are aimed at increasing “mutual trust and friendship”.
