cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/44734680

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Experts have expressed fears that the Chinese government plans to increase the forced “harvesting” of human organs from people in Xinjiang, home to a large Turkic Muslim population.

The concerns follow the announcement by the Xinjiang Health Commission late last year that it was going to develop six new organ transplant institutions in the region in the period to 2030, among other measures aimed at expanding transplant services.

Xinjiang is a large area in northwest China where the Beijing government has been operating a campaign of oppression against the indigenous population of Uyghur and other Turkic people since 2014.

The United Nations has said the campaign, which includes a vast network of camps, involves serious human rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity. “The announcement raises concerns about the ongoing procurement of organs through human rights abuses in Xinjiang, because there is no obvious reason why the new facilities are needed,” said Wendy Rogers, professor of clinical ethics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

[…]

Enver Tohti [a former surgeon in Xinjiang who now lives in London] said he believes the Chinese authorities are expanding their organ transplant facilities throughout China, and not just in Xinjiang. “Xinjiang is just part of a wider picture,” he said.

He believes the Chinese authorities began to collect biological data from people in Xinjiang in 2016 with a view to building a database that could be searched for matches when organs were needed for transplant operations. “People in inner China just disappear,” he said.

“Maybe they are accused of a crime and sent to prison. In Xinjiang, they simply take the person – say they are a terrorist.” In China, “if you are declared an enemy of the state, then an enemy is not a human being.”

[…]

Recently, at a military parade in Beijing, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, was caught on mic discussing organ transplants with his counterpart from Russia, Vladimir Putin.

“Biotechnology is continuously developing,” Putin’s interpreter was recorded saying in Chinese to Xi. “Human organs can be continuously transplanted. The longer you live, the younger you become, and [you can] even achieve immortality.”

Xi could be heard responding in Chinese: “Some predict that in this century humans may live to 150 years old.”

Tohti said: “They are talking about organ harvesting. Organ transplanting in China is organ harvesting. They are not taking organs from volunteers. Every organ transplant is part of harvesting.”

In December 2014, Chinese State media reported that China was to stop using organs from executed prisoners in transplant operations. However, Tohti said such statements are just optics. “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) never keeps its promises. They make laws to show to outsiders. They make a constitution to show to outsiders. Inside the country, it is completely different.”

[…]

  • Ferrous@lemmy.ml
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    5 hours ago

    It is especially strange how the article pushes this conspiracy theory

    However, he claimed, the overall practice is driven by a programme called Project 981, which aims to increase the life expectancy of CCP leaders to 150 years and includes free access to organ transplants. “It explains why this hideous crime exists and why it is flourishing. It needs to flourish so the leaders will have a pool of organs to choose from.”

    I found one single reference to a “project 981” on the internet, and it comes back to a Radio Free source. Laughable conspiracy theories with zero backing. Par for the course for these anti China hit pieces.

    • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
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      5 hours ago

      I found one single reference to a “project 981” on the internet

      Search bubble? I get pages of results. It also goes under different names. And there’s the hot mic moment between Putin & Xi Jinping. But I’m sure you have a counterargument ready against that.

      Even so, we have plenty proof of human rights violations in China, especially against Muslim minorities.

      • Ferrous@lemmy.ml
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        3 hours ago

        Search bubble? I get pages of results.

        Please share your sources since they are so ample.

    • Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
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      4 hours ago

      I found one single reference to a “project 981” on the internet

      That’ s likely because you searched in the Chinese web, and there it is censored. There is ample evidence for this.

      • Ferrous@lemmy.ml
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        3 hours ago

        There is ample evidence for this.

        Please share the ample evidence of the operation purportedly being carried out by Chinese officials to increase their lifespan to 150 years.

        • Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
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          3 hours ago

          What a cute question, as if anything would convince someone like you.

          Xi Jinping’s talk about living to 150 echoes a specialized research project conducted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to extend the lives of its top leaders. The conversation between Xi and Putin in September has resurfaced a 2019 digital advertisement on Chinese social media by the 301 Hospital’s “981 (CCP) Leaders’ Healthcare Project."

          The 301 Hospital is the official PLA General Hospital, the main military medical institution in China, providing health care exclusively for senior party members, government, and military officials. The “981 Project” was established in 2005, the 981 Healthcare Technology Group was registered as a company in 2014. The project offers elite medical services to extend the lifespans of senior CCP leaders to 150 years, so the project says.

          The 2019 ad also claims the CCP started researching enhanced elite health care as soon as it seized power in 1949, developing a “unique system” that significantly extends leaders’ lifespans with “remarkable results.”

          Among others, the project touted already in 2008 that the average lifespan of Chinese leaders reached 88 years, as opposed to state statistics showing the average Chinese life span in 2008 was only 73. The project drew widespread criticism on Chinese social media, it has been censored since.

          • Ferrous@lemmy.ml
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            2 hours ago

            ample evidence

            a single, one minute facebook Radio Free Asia Clip

            Utterly laughable. Try harder. This is “ample evidence” to you?

            I think you might start getting flustered looking for more evidence as you realize that all of these ample “sources” cite this 1 minute RFA clip.

      • Eldritch@piefed.world
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        3 hours ago

        Most major world leaders have always been. Most of us can admit that. ML, like fascists however can’t.