On July 3, 2007, three days after the Regulations on Human Organ Transplant became effective, China Ministry of Health released the Stipulation of Organ Transplant Requests from Foreigners. This stipulation stresses that foreign applications for organ transplants must be approved by the Ministry of Health. This gesture, as commented by critics, is a response from Chinese authority to the rising pressure from overseas demanding that "the Olympic Games and crimes against humanity shall not happen simultaneously in China." It is not clear whether this regulation will be put into practice though, as the comment says.
No Transplants For Foreigners Without Approval
According to the Xinhua News Agency, the stipulation states that medical units and their personnel may not perform organ transplants for foreigners who come to China as travelers. Medical units, which are going to perform organ transplants for foreign residents, must report to the provincial health department and acquire approval from the Ministry of Health.
Donated organs in China will be provided preferentially to Chinese citizens as well as the residents of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. For patients from these three places, medical units still have to report to the provincial health department prior to surgery.
The stipulation also states medical units shall not release any advertisement of organ transplants in any way except those that are stated in the Regulations of Medical Advertisement.
International Coalition Urges China to Respond by August 8
On May 30, the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) expressed that it will lead the effort to boycott the 2008 Olympic Games if the Chinese Communist regime fails to give a satisfactory response to the three appeals before August 8, 2007. One of the appeals pertains to the organ harvesting of live Falun Gong practitioners. CIPFG is a global human rights organization. The objective of the coalition is to conduct a thorough and independent third party investigation, to uncover the truth about the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong, and to investigate the harvesting of organs from live Falun Gong practitioners. Currently, the coalition has branches in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The majority of its 300+ members are VIPs in various countries from political, legal and medical professions, human rights and other non-government organizations.
Many witnesses and independent investigators have verified that concentration camps for large-scale harvesting of organs from live Falun Gong practitioners indeed exist in Mainland China. With the involvement of the Chinese army, many hospitals transplant these organs into foreign patients, who can afford the expensive operations (most of these foreign patients come to China as travelers, and can "find" suitable organs in as little as a couple of weeks).
In regards to this, the CIPFG presented three formal requests to the CCP: 1. Release all the imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners; 2. End all repressive measures against people supporting and protecting Falun Gong adherents, such as attorneys Gao Zhisheng and Li Hong; 3. Allow an independent investigation of the allegations of China's trade in organs harvested from live Falun Gong adherents. CIPFG stresses that the Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China, otherwise it will desecrate the Olympic spirit.
A Superficial Response from the Chinese Authorities
Several commentators have called the notice from China's Ministry of Health a superficial and passive response to international pressure. Since the exposure of organ harvesting, the CCP has tried to cover it up. For example, after the exposure of the Sujiatun incident, the CCP delayed investigation for three weeks and waited until it had removed and destroyed all evidence before sending the "invitation." to investigators.
Chinese authorities have always denied using organs from executed prisoners. It only passively admitted that various levels of local hospitals had used organs "donated" from "volunteer" soon to be executed prisoners, when it could not account for tens of thousands of organ transplants performed in China each year. This was their excuse to deny the allegations of organ harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners.
Now, investigators have obtained much first-hand material. For instance, foreigners, who are now receiving post transplant treatment in their own countries, have disclosed the transplants they had received in China. Hence the CCP is forced to tacitly admit that various local medical institutions had conducted transplants for foreign visitors in the past.
Analysts point out that this notice from the Ministry of Health not only indirectly confirms that China has been a large organ supplier in recent years and hence has attracted many foreigners to have organ transplant operations in China, but also shifts the responsibility to local medical institutions of various levels, as if these illegal transplants had nothing to do with the Chinese authorities.
Analysts believe that at least from the legal perspective, there are no more legal loopholes now for these murderers to take advantage of, and that they are no different from Nazis in control of the concentration camps in the past,. However one has to wait and see whether China can truly put an end to the crime of organ harvesting.
There is only a little over a month left before the August 8th deadline set by CIPFG. How the Chinese authorities will respond to the international community's condemnation is another test of the Chinese officials' consciences. Otherwise, the movement from around the world to boycott the Beijing Olympic Games will have a far-reaching impact.
