Legal experts and human rights groups are warning Queensland officials of the risks of engaging with China’s Shanghai Renji Hospital amid concerns its transplant hub could be linked to mass organ harvesting.
Official Shanghai news reports say the hospital—also known as the Shanghai Organ Transplantation Institute—performs paediatric living-donor liver transplants.
Instead, it spoke of increased exports and participation in an expo. However, The Epoch Times is aware that a delegation, led by Trade Minister Ros Bates, explored possible training and clinical-trial collaborations with Renji Hospital, which shares links with the CCP’s military.
While this masthead understands no commitments were made, the engagement has drawn scrutiny from lawyers and human rights groups due to the hospital’s profile and transplant track record.
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They want any future negotiations paused pending an independent ethical and human rights review.
Groups Raise Concerns With Organ Sourcing
In a joint statement, the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China and Be Slavery Free warn that involvement with the hospital presents unique human rights risks.
“During the visit, the minister explored opportunities in areas such as professional development, clinical trials and hospital management training. Although transplant medicine was not explicitly referenced, the involvement of a transplant institution raises serious concerns,” the groups say.
“Without clear assurances that future collaboration will exclude transplant-related activities, Queensland Health risks reputational and legal exposure due to China’s ongoing lack of transparency and traceability in organ sourcing.”
Specific risk areas include potentially training transplant surgeons who go on to be involved in unethical operations, supplying medical devices or pharmaceuticals used in illicit transplants, and inadvertently collaborating in clinical research involving organs obtained without lawful consent or traceability.
Cheng Peiming, a Falun Gong practitioner who had part of his liver and lung forcibly removed in China, shows his scar after a press conference in Washington on Aug. 9, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
“No medical collaboration should proceed in the dark,” said David Matas, a Canadian human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee currently visiting Australia.
“China’s transplant system still operates without basic transparency or independent oversight. Entering partnerships in that environment carries real risk, not only of reputational damage, but of complicity in serious human rights violations” which in turn could lead to legal consequences under international human rights frameworks.
Before engaging any further with Shanghai Renji Hospital—or any Chinese medical facility that undertakes transplants—the Coalition and Be Slavery Free want the Queensland government to pause the process while it obtains independent expert advice, and to introduce a policy that prohibits partnerships with institutions that are unable to demonstrate complete transparency in organ sourcing.
“The issue is not medical exchange in general,” said Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers of Macquarie University.
Conclusion About Organ Harvesting on Falun Gong Practitioners
In 2020, the China Tribunal concluded that the CCP state had, “beyond reasonable doubt,” carried out forced organ harvesting from detained Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs, which it ruled constituted crimes against humanity.
The China Tribunal panel (L–R) of U.S. history professor Arthur Waldron, Malaysian lawyer Andrew Khoo, professor of cardiothoracic surgery Martin Elliott, tribunal chair Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, businessman Nicholas Vetch, Iranian human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr, and U.S. lawyer Regina Paulose, in London, on Dec. 8, 2018. Justin Palmer
“Forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale and that Falun Gong practitioners have been one—and probably the main—source of organ supply. The concerted persecution and medical testing of the Uyghurs is more recent and it may be that evidence of forced organ harvesting of this group may emerge in due course,” its final report said.
“The Tribunal has had no evidence that the significant infrastructure associated with China’s transplantation industry has been dismantled and absent a satisfactory explanation as to the source of readily available organs concludes that forced organ harvesting continues till today.”
It estimated that 60,000 to 100,000 organ transplants are performed annually in China, far exceeding official claims, and amid low donation rates. Despite a 2015 announcement ending organ sourcing from executed prisoners, no legal reforms followed.
Foreign institutions risk criminal liability if they engage in training, research, or supply chains that facilitate or benefit from forced organ harvesting.
“Collaborating with China’s transplant industry, at any level, raises serious business and human rights concerns, especially given what is known about China’s state-sanctioned organ harvesting trade and the concerns about serious breaches of fundamental human rights,” said international human rights barrister Madeleine Bridgett.
Human rights advocates have requested urgent meetings with Bates and senior Queensland officials to clarify what human rights safeguards and due diligence processes were in place during the engagement with Renji Hospital.
They are seeking assurances from both the Queensland and Australian governments that no medical collaboration will proceed without full alignment with international standards on transparency and accountability.
The Epoch Times sought comment from the minister on the content of discussions with the hospital, whether the Queensland government is aware of the reputational and possible legal risks of any collaboration, and for a response to the concerns raised by human rights groups.
No comment was provided yet.
