Purpose

This report identifies the role of the Chinese state in organ transplant abuses in China, including the harvesting of organs from prisoners of conscience as part of extrajudicial killings.

Method

We examined China's national strategy, funding, policy, and legislation regarding organ transplantation and the use of prisoners' bodies after death. We also analyzed the structure of Communist Party and government agencies involved in organ transplantation.

Results

China began to conduct human organ transplantation in the 1960s, followed by the first recorded case of an organ being harvested from a political prisoner during execution and transplanted into the son of a senior Communist Party cadre.

On October 9, 1984, multiple government bodies and ministries jointly promulgated the "Provisional Regulations on the Use of Corpses or the Organs of Executed Prisoners." It allowed the bodies and organs of prisoners to be used under certain conditions.

The year 2000 was a watershed for the organ transplant industry in China, when the Chinese government started prioritizing organ transplantation in its national strategy and investing heavily in research, development, industrialization, and personnel training in transplantation technology.

An exponential increase in transplant volume coincided with the Chinese regime's campaign to eradicate the Falun Gong spiritual practice. Former Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin launched this campaign in July 1999 with directives to "ruin their reputations, bankrupt them financially, destroy them physically.” The 1984 regulation is used to justify the sourcing of organs from Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to disclose their identities without the consent of either themselves or their family members, whether or not they have been sentenced to death.

To drive the eradication campaign, the central Communist Party leadership created the “610 Office,” an ad hoc agency with the power to control personnel and resources under the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of State Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, propaganda departments, and the fields of finance, culture, education, science and technology, and health throughout the country.

Conclusion

The Chinese regime mobilized the entire state apparatus to carry out its campaign to eradicate Falun Gong, which includes organ harvesting in its directives.

CITATION INFORMATION: Li D., Xia Y., Li M., Yin G. Organ Transplant Abuse in China (5): Role of the Chinese State Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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