Letter from the Editor, Ann F Corson, MD

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) soft power agenda to influence Western society, from theft of intellectual property to restriction of academic freedom to outright spying, has continued to expand around the globe. Awareness of such manipulations has fortunately grown as well. How can any of us believe that a government with a long history of severe human rights abuses would tell the truth about organ transplantation?

We must all open our eyes and carefully examine the behavior and true nature of the Chinese Communist Party. Since the Paris Commune, communist governments have created chaos and violent struggle in society. In China, the CCP’s entire history is a tale of lies, wars, famine, tyranny, massacre and terror. Spiritual faith and ethical principles have been destroyed as compassion, empathy and harmony among people have been distorted into struggle and hatred. Through deliberate planning, the CCP has engineered the collapse of social, moral and ecological structures. There is no rule of law in China’s totalitarian state.

Before anyone accepts China’s promises of transplant reform, the ethics of China’s hugely profitable state-run transplant industry should be objectively examined. Where is the proof that organ harvesting from executed prisoners, let alone living prisoners of conscience, has ended? When one of the largest Catholic churches in China has just been demolished and the Vatican has bowed to demands allowing a religiously intolerant government to appoint bishops, how can the CCP’s reassurances regarding organ sourcing be believed?

Confucius opined, “An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.” Centuries later, Churchill echoed this sentiment, “You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth.”

International researchers have consistently demonstrated that live forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience, primarily Falun Gong practitioners, continues unabated in China. Vivisection of innocents has formed the foundation of China’s entire transplant infrastructure and industry.

There is no ethical alternative but to disengage immediately and completely from China’s transplantation professionals. Stop training Chinese transplant professional in Western medical teaching hospitals, sever collaboration and research with Chinese counterparts. Those who accept financial compensation for the sale of organs from innocent people who have chosen to be guided in their lives by the principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, become accomplices to genocide.