Chinese state-run media covered broadly statements made by Huang Jiefu, Director of the China National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, at the opening of 3rd China International Organ Donation Conference in Xi’an in late September. He claimed China will surpass the world in number of organ transplants by 2020 and China’s transplant community is “willing to share our experience and wisdom in this field with other countries.” Overseas media repeated Huang’s comments which included reports of dramatic increases in voluntary donations. However, given China’s complete lack of transparency regarding organ sourcing, there is no way of knowing if these donations come from ordinary Chinese citizens or represent organs from prisoners of conscience that have been reclassified as “voluntary.”
After attending the organ donation conference in Xi’an, Francis Delmonico, Chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) Task Force of Donation and Transplantation of Organs and Tissues, who is also a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) Council, met with the Pope at the Vatican to discuss China’s reform surrounding organ transplantation and its efforts to fight organ trafficking. Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, Chancellor of Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences, was also in attendance. Unfortunately, none of those present acknowledged the voluminous body of evidence indicating that China has not made any substantive reform to date and that the killing of religious believers and other prisoners of conscience for their organs continues unabated.
