The two authors of the book Bloody Harvest, who were also 2010 Nobel Peace Prize nominees, attended the launch for the Chinese translation of Bloody Harvest, held at the Legislative Yuan (the national legislature) in Taiwan on June 28.
Each of the two authors, David Kilgour, who was the former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), and David Matas, the award-winning international human rights lawyer, spoke.
David Kilgour said that since 2006 he and David Matas had traveled to four continents and more than 40 countries, breaking through various obstacles to collect evidence, and arrived at the conclusion that large-scale live organ harvesting from Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) practitioners did happen and continues even today.
David Matas called into question the claims by Beijing that the organs used in China for organ transplantation were from prisoners sentenced to the death penalty. He pointed out that from 2006-2007, the number of death penalties in China decreased by 53 percent, while the number of organ transplants did not decrease. In fact, in 2008, the number of liver transplants even returned to historically high levels, which were first reached in the period 2000-2006 studied by Matas and Kilgour.
Taiwan legislators Tien Chiu-Chin, Chai Trong-Rong, and Chen Ting-Fei said, Taiwan should prevent its citizens from going to mainland China for organ transplants. They will help to push forward a bill that makes using an unknown organ source for transplantation a crime.
On this issue, a specialist from the Department of Health, Liu Mingxun, said, this legislation needs public support, and the Department of Health and the Legislative Yuan must work together.
Tian Chiu-Chin suggested the cost of getting organ transplants in mainland China should not be covered by national health insurance (NHI); the surgery cost should not be paid for by NHI.
Liu Mingxun said, there are currently more than seven thousand people in Taiwan waiting for an organ transplant, but only 700 plus receive transplants annually. Due to the large disproportion, many might try to get a transplant from outside the country.
Director of Taipei Veterans General Hospital medical research division Guo Zhendian said, while the Chinese Communist Party is condemned for such atrocities as live organ harvesting, the medical community and people of Taiwan cannot stay aloof.
Guo made an analogy between live organ harvesting and robbery. A doctor might argue that those in need of an organ have the right to get the transplant. But if those in need of organs can rob someone else’s, does that mean those in need of money have the right to rob from others?
Theresa Chu, spokesperson for the Falun Gong Human Rights Lawyers Working Group in Taiwan urged that the government of Taiwan and the presidential candidate should address this unprecedented evil, because the Taiwanese people might unknowingly become its accomplice.
She hopes that legislators can thoroughly review laws related to human organ transplant, and that each person can get a copy of Bloody Harvest; let all who can read Chinese understand the monstrosity that is the CCP.
Since the release of the report on live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in 2006, the two authors have visited Taiwan three times. They have also visited various countries to tell the world about the human rights conditions in mainland China.
During their visit to Taiwan in 2006, government officials including former Vice-President Annette Lu and former Chairman of Mainland Affairs Council Joseph Wu met them in public and expressed their support.
Shi Chiyin & Huang Yuyan contributed to this report.
Read the original Chinese article.
