葛特曼西敏寺談中國「器官活摘」 再轟柯文哲 （附葛特曼談話全文）

〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕《屠殺》作者伊森‧葛特曼(Ethan Gutmann)於16日在英國西敏寺的「中國強摘器官的第三次發布會」發表談話，他直指台北市長柯文哲在2005年就知道中國有醫院在活摘法輪功學員的器官，他感嘆：「書裡的內容永遠不會改變，但我對柯文哲的觀感已經徹底改變了」。

葛特曼在談話中表示，中國每年有高達60,000到100,000件器官移植，且來源讓人懷疑，他說自己希望能準確陳述歷史，而促成今日器官活摘現狀的重要因素就是葉克膜(ECMO)的技術，還有醫師柯文哲。

葛特曼指出，柯文哲曾參與2008年無錫市醫院舉辦的葉克膜研討會，而這場研討會有許多人都有活摘器官嫌疑。他分析柯文哲的身分分別是台灣「器官旅客」前往中國的中間人、美敦力葉克膜的推銷員、教導中國使用葉克膜的教師。

葛特曼直指台灣是共犯結構的一部分，西方、日本、南韓醫療界，以及美敦力、國際器官移植協會、梵諦岡、美國國會、英國國會都在密切觀望台灣，他認為，台灣這次是決定未來的關鍵。

葛特曼談話全文(蝴蝶蘭文創創辦人吳祥輝提供)：

謝謝，我今天會講到台灣，但我想先提到四點不可否認的事實。

1. 我們在2016年發布的報告《血腥的器官摘取/大屠殺：更新版》顯示，中國絕不只像北京宣稱的每年進行10,000至15,000次的器官移植，而是高達60,000到100,000件。中國政府在器官移植議題上的發言人黃潔夫最近也基本承認了這個數量，他說中國在幾年內就會達到每年50,000件器官移植的數量，這些器官都哪裡來的？

2. 在過去一年中，北京政府從超過1,500萬維吾爾族人身上抽取了血液樣本，包含新疆的每個男人、女人、小孩。

3. 在當下，超過一百萬維吾爾族人被關在所謂「再教育營」中。

4. 中共還在新疆建立9個火葬場，第一個剛剛在烏魯木齊開始營運，光是那一個就駐紮了50名保安人員。

我不能阻止中共，就像當年在愛爾蘭西岸旁觀的僧人無法停止維京人橫掃歐洲文明一樣，但我的工作是要把歷史準確的陳述出來。今天我要講一個很關鍵的重點，這是我覺得促成了今天器官活摘現狀的重要因素。

那就是叫做葉克膜(ECMO)的技術，還有一個叫做柯文哲的醫生，就是這張照片右邊數來第三人，這是在2008年無錫市醫院舉辦的葉克膜研討會上拍攝的照片。柯醫師現在已經成了台北市的市長，柯醫師從最早2000年就開始涉及到中國的葉克膜發展。

柯文哲在2008年的一次訪談中告訴我，他最早在2005年就親自知道，中國至少有一間醫院在活摘法輪功學員的器官。這場訪談現在被記錄在我的書《屠殺》裡，而且我們雙方當年都同意了我出版的內容。

書裡的內容永遠不會改變，但我對柯文哲的觀感已經徹底改變了。

在我最近出發到台灣推廣我的書中譯本之前，我發現柯文哲在2008年曾經參與了那場葉克膜研討會，而且就在我們訪談進行的三個月前。那張研討會的合照讓我看了想忘都忘不掉，我也不會忘記研討會的會議行程表，顯示柯參與其中。

許多在台灣研究這個議題的人都比我更有能力進一步調查這場葉克膜研討會，事實上法輪功的研究者已經超越了我自己收集到這個研討會的資料。但光就我在2016年與大衛·麥塔斯和大衛·喬高一同撰寫出版的報告，我可以講講這場研討會上出現的醫院和醫生。

我們在這裡把每個懷疑曾涉嫌對政治和宗教良心犯進行器官活摘的個人和醫院都用紅體字標註起來，儘管我們對於柯文哲在中國究竟做了什麼還有疑慮，我們也先把他的名子改成紅色。柯文哲在當天中午12點進行了講座。

可以看出，在這場研討會演講的許多人都有活摘器官嫌疑

• 我們在2016年的更新報告中特別觀察了無錫市人民醫院，該院不只獲得獨特的肺移植許可，還進行其他八種移植手術，腎臟、肝臟、心臟、胰臟、角膜、幹細胞、骨髓、和人工血管。因為無錫市人民醫院宣稱他們進行超過全中國一半數量的肺移植手術，我們懷疑法輪功學員是肺來源之一。

• 陳忠華從2000年1月到2006年8月對65個「器官捐贈者」進行了多個器官同時移除的手術。在2006年，陳忠華還是武漢同濟醫院器官移植研究所的所長的時候，海外的調查人員打電話向醫院詢問他們是否可以取得法輪功學員器官的移植時，該醫院的腎臟移植部門回覆「沒問題啊，當你準備好時，到我們醫院來跟我們進一步討論」。

• 這是劉德若，中日友好醫院的外科主任醫師，在2008年前進行過7次的肺移植手術，都是從腦死的所謂「器官捐贈者」身上取得，通常那就意味著被器官活摘的受害者。中日友好醫院是日本「器官旅客」常來接受移植的熱門醫院。

• 接下來是陳靜瑜，號稱「中國肺移植手術第一人」，2002年到2011年間從「捐贈者」身上取出了129個肺臟。到2014年為止，陳靜瑜每天平均做五個肺移植手術，他向10個城市和省分的30間醫院教導灌注保存器官的專業技術。陳靜瑜應該就是照片右邊那位，而柯文哲就在左邊。

• 北京阜外醫院，這個醫院進行中國最多的心臟移植，宋雲虎是主任醫師

• 接下來是上海市胸科醫院的高成新，進行了中國最多的雙肺移植手術。該院的肺內科主任韓寶惠韓寶惠，曾向當局告密自己的同學趙斌修煉法輪功。趙斌在2012年4月被捕，2013年10月19日在上海的監獄被摧殘致死。

• 福建醫科大學附屬協和醫院副院長陳良萬，他破了16個「中國第一」紀錄，從111個腦死的「捐贈者」取出心臟，平均壽命25歲，都沒有心臟疾病，熱缺血時間為0-15分鐘，這又是另一項紀錄，說明了是事先計畫好了的器官活摘。

• 王春生，上海中山醫院的心臟外科主任。從2000到2011年，王從298名「捐贈者」身上取出心臟，平均壽命27歲，沒有心臟疾病歷史。2007年以來，他從取出了238個心臟。

• 下面是對中山醫院肝調查的電話錄音:

調查員：要等多久呀？

醫生：來了一個禮拜左右就可以做了。

調查員：有沒有這種煉法輪功的這種提供的，這種提供的說是很好……

醫生：我們這兒的都是這種

「所有捐獻肝都是直接從源頭獲取的。 因為我們自己進行提取，並且能夠獲得捐贈器官的原始信息，我們就能確定捐獻者的肝臟是否可以使用… 我們不關心它是否來自法輪功學員。我們不參與政治。作為醫生，我們只關心捐贈的肝臟，關心它是否符合移植的要求。如果它符合要求，我們不關心它來自誰。」

• 這是孟旭，北京心臟移植中心的創始人，從1992年到2006年他參與了摘除51個「器官捐贈者」的心臟，都是男性，年齡21-43歲，沒有心臟疾病歷史，熱缺血時間為3-8分鐘。孟旭獨自完成了將近10,000次手術，每年都有超過800次。

因為時間緣故，我在這裡要跳過一些內容。

• 最後一個是天津市第一中心醫院，估計每年有5000件器官移植，十幾年來幾乎占據官方統計全國移植數量的一半。過半數在這裡接受器官移植的是外國人。

這個研討會的重點是什麼？為什麼這些人會來參加呢？當然是為了葉克膜而來。柯文哲是為了推銷美敦力的葉克膜機器而到中國大陸。

葉克膜可以用來作為活摘器官的工具，它可以將肺臟或心臟的壽命延長最長達8小時，如同柯所說的，葉克膜可以拯救生命

的確，葉克膜在台灣、美國、英國、日本、澳洲都發揮了拯救生命的角色，但在中國，因為有著幾乎無數的宗教和政治良心犯，把葉克膜帶進中國的結果是截然不同的。

參加這個葉克膜研討會的人是為了想拯救人命而來嗎？我想他們應該是因為想要賺錢而來的。從研討會的角度來看，柯文哲的參與是有價值的，至少到2008年為止，柯對於中國大陸器官移植產業的可利用處有三點：

1. 扮演一個中間人的角色，讓台灣較為有錢的「器官旅客」前往中國。

2. 扮演一個推銷員的角色，推銷美敦力的葉克膜器材到中國大陸。

3. 扮演一個教師的角色，教導中國如何使用葉克膜技術。

如果你在對法輪功學員、維吾爾人、或西藏人進行器官活摘，你可以利用葉克膜技術，來增加活摘一個人器官可以得到的利潤。這張就是器官的價格表，而這張照片就是五名法輪功的難民。

所有這張照片裡的女子都被關進勞改營過，她們全都被刑求過。在勞改營中她們其中一人遭受了性侵害，而最左邊這名女士京田(音譯)還被檢驗過器官。如果她在沒有葉克膜的情況下被器官活摘了，而器官在醫院被配給外國來的器官移植旅客，她的器官總價值會是大約$200,000美元，如果加上眼角膜或許可以值$200,000美元，姑且估算為$225,000美元好了。

如果利用葉克膜呢？京田身上的器官價值會增加到$680,000美元，大概增加了兩倍。我認為參加那個2008年葉克膜研討會的人，都非常清楚這個數字代表什麼。

簡單說，無論最初把葉克膜引進中國的用意為何，它所帶來的結果就是讓中國有更多殺害法輪功學員、維吾爾人、西藏人的邪惡動機。我們不知道柯文哲對於中國的葉克膜技術到底幫助了多少，但我毫無疑問肯定把葉克膜引進中國造成了更多無辜的人被殺害。我也毫無疑問肯定葉克膜導致中國器官移植產業的急速發展，還有現在在新疆發生的巨大的人權危機。

但講這些對台灣公平嗎？柯醫生現在是受人歡迎的台北市市長，他還在競選連任，台灣應該質疑柯過往在這個「地獄研討會」中究竟做了什麼嗎？我想說的是，我作為一個作者，還有做為「全球制止中國器官強摘聯盟」(ETAC)的發起人之一，我必須問一些問題。

全球制止中國器官強摘聯盟裡面，一向最有遠見、最冷靜、而又最清楚的專家是大衛·麥塔斯。當一些器官移植的病患開始提醒我們，說我們的研究被一些反疫苗接踵的陰謀論製造者濫用來作為假證據時，我當時提議聯盟可以開始鼓勵自願的器官捐贈註冊，大衛·麥塔斯則馬上制止我，他說「不要超越我們最開始的任務初衷」。現在想起來他是對的，我們的聯盟若是開始涉及其他的任務便會翻散注意力，而我們最主要的任務還是要在中國拯救生命。

大衛·麥塔斯還將中國對於政治犯和宗教良心犯的器官活摘比喻為一種「病毒」，也就是說這種「病毒」並不會影響中國國內，而是會散布到全球各地的醫界。

想想看梵諦岡舉辦的有關非法人口走私的論壇，中國的器官移植官員不但前往與會，還被論壇當作是全世界器官移植的典範。

可以想想看國際器官移植協會如何頻繁的高調造訪中國，他們的成員還將法輪功描述為「邪教」，這說法讓中共官方媒體大為吹捧。

可以想想看黃潔夫如何誇耀中國的器官移植系統，將它當成是獎勵支持中國一帶一路國家的禮物。

所以如果全球制止中國器官強摘聯盟有另一個任務，而不會淪於膚淺的像是常看到在T-shirt上「拯救鯨魚」或「拯救西藏」的口號，那就是「歷史是重要的」

大規模屠殺、或者稱「冷血大屠殺」會永久性的改變一個社會的結構，當大規模屠殺普遍變成一個解決問題或掩蓋政治不正確罪行的方法時，它不只影響受害者、讓他們的家庭受到世代的創傷，也會影響加害者的那個群體。我這裡敘述的是過去二十年中國器官活摘的真相，而這個歷史的真相必須被揭露出來，我們沒有其他的選擇，我們必須持續揭穿那些主動在掩蓋這段歷史的人。

兩周前，我很驚訝地看到台灣的衛生部長突然對台灣人前往中國大陸接受器官移植的現象提供更為透明化的資訊，並且承諾將會以更嚴厲的懲罰來約束那些繼續違背台灣器官移植法規的人。我在台北也與許多調查這方面議題最為厲害的專業人士促膝長談。

他們調查的重點是什麼？我們可以用一個字來總結，那就受「共犯結構」，現在在台灣關心這個議題的人可能只是少數人，但台灣的確有許多人會希望終止台灣與中國醫界掛鉤的共犯結構，而他們開始了一系列的深入調查。葉克膜只是這個共犯結構謎團的一部分，台灣有好幾個人，涉及台灣多家醫院、跨級不同的政黨，他們都是可能被揭發的共犯，我在這裡就不提他們名子了。

這是我們要面對的黑暗，這也是台灣社會當前面對的揭露黑暗前必然的恐懼。

你們為了逃避這種揭露黑暗的恐懼，當然可以很容易地針對我、攻擊我，甚至跑去騷擾我15歲兒子的Instagram帳號，或是去威脅台灣的法輪功學員，或攻擊幫我出書的出版者，你們甚至把整個事件形容是「政治打手」，或說什麼「沒有證據」。

事實上全世界的人權組織多年來都是抱持那樣的態度，直到後來真相水落石出才全面改變。在經過那些國會聽證會、各家媒體報導之後，美國國會都說我們的報告「太有一貫性和說服力」，全球各地的專業人士也都以他們的名聲替我們背書，支持反強摘器官醫生組織和全球制止中國器官強摘聯盟。正是因為證據確鑿，人權組織發現他們若要繼續否認器官活摘這件事會太過丟臉。但他們仍然沒有大聲的承認整件事是「血腥屠殺」，那些希望繼續留在中國進行報導的國際記者也沒有高調採訪這件事，因為他們那麼多年來不承認此事的做法正是「共犯結構」的一種。

所以是的，台灣是共犯結構的一部分，而這種共犯結構正是為什麼中共可以繼續在世人關注下持續犯下反人類罪而不需擔心後果。西方世界對於中共暴行的軟弱反應對於我們的未來都會有可怕的影響。

這就是為什麼全世界現在都把焦點放在台灣因為西方、日本、南韓的醫療界都在觀望台灣，無論他們是否已是共犯結構的一環。美敦力、國際器官移植協會、梵諦岡也、美國國會、英國國會都在密切觀望。台灣這麼小一個國家竟然有這麼大的影響力和權力，這次台灣真的變成了決定未來的關鍵。

我本人因為此事受到許多攻擊，我也毫無懼怕地反擊回去，但我尊重台灣的自由媒體環境和民主。政治就像是肢體格鬥一樣，媒體的新聞熱度可能只是以6小時為單位而不是24小時，但不可否認的是這個事件的力道是無法抵擋的。我推測台灣會繼續在這件事情上挖掘出真相，我也支持台灣成為全球制止中國器官強摘聯盟未來進行器官活摘調查的重要根據地。

我在台灣時看到新聞報導，中共因為世界開始關注它把一百萬維吾爾族人關在新疆集中營裡，而開始將300,000維吾爾族人強行移到別的地方，我們不知道他們被移到新的地方是否有可能就是器官活摘的設施和醫院。這目前還是臆測，但我們可以看出台灣對此事的反應有可能會影響如此多的維吾爾族男人、女人、小孩的未來，決定他們的生死。

所以如果台灣在聽我的證詞，台北市民們，請向全世界展現你們的勇氣，這是你們替中國的受害者挺身而出的機會、是你們替沒有聲音的受害者發聲的機會。請向全世界展現台灣追求真相的決心，不管挖掘出來的真相為何。

謝謝。

葛特曼談話英文全文(蝴蝶蘭文創創辦人吳祥輝提供)：

Thank you.

I’ll be speaking about Taiwan today, but I want to begin with four stubborn facts.

1) Our report, Bloody Harvest/The Slaughter: an Update, released in 2016, showed that China is not performing 10,000 or 15,000 transplants per year as Beijing claims, but 60,000 to 100,000 transplants a year. Huang Jiefu, China’s spokesman on the organ harvesting issue recently embraced that volume. He says that China will be doing 50,000 transplants in a few years. Where will the organs come from?

2) Over the last year, Beijing has blood-tested approximately 15 million Uyghurs – every man, woman and child in Xinjiang.

3) As I speak, over one million Uyghurs are in “Re-education Camps.”

4) And the CCP are building 9 crematoriums in Xinjiang. The first one in Urumqi has just opened. It has 50 security guards.

We cannot - I cannot - stop Beijing, any more than a monk on the West coast of Ireland could stop the Vikings from pillaging European civilization. My job is to compile an accurate history. So, I am going to examine one factor - one among many - that I believe contributed to the current situation.

It’s a medical technology known as ECMO. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. And a man named Dr. Ko Wen-je, third from the right in this photograph of an ECMO conference at Wuxi Hospital in 2008. Dr. Ko is currently mayor of Taipei. Dr. Ko’s involvement in ECMO goes back to at least 2000.

In 2008, Dr. Ko told me in an interview that he knew first-hand about Falun Gong organ harvesting in at least one hospital in China back in 2005 – and that account of the interview, which was agreed on by both parties in writing, is now in my book, The Slaughter.

That account will never change. But my view of Dr. Ko? That has changed.

As I discovered shortly before I went to Taiwan to promote the Mandarin publication of my book, Dr. Ko was at this conference only three months before our interview in 2008. I cannot un-see the picture. And I cannot un-see the schedule for the conference that Ko participated in.

Many Taiwanese researchers are far more equipped to investigate this conference than I am. And in fact, my own findings on this conference has already been surpassed by Falun Gong researchers. But if I use sources I trust - the 2016 Update with Kilgour and Matas, which I co-wrote, and documents from the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, which I co-edited - I can say a few words about the hospitals and individuals on this schedule.

Every individual and hospital that is suspected to have been involved in the organ harvesting of political and religious prisoners is highlighted in red. Although there are ambiguities about Dr. Ko’s activities in China, for simplicity, I have also highlighted Ko Wen-je’s name in red. Ko was the only non-mainlander to give a presentation. He presents at the 12:00 session.

This schedule is a sea of red. I’ll just go down the list in order, starting with the conference venue:

• Wuxi People’s Hospital was closely examined in our 2016 update because it is exclusively approved for lung transplants - and yet we know it also carries out eight other types - kidney, liver, heart, pancreas, cornea, stem cell, bone marrow, and vascular grafts. Because Wuxi claims to have completed more than half of all lung transplant surgeries in China, we suspect that some of those lungs are from Falun Gong.

• Chen Zhonghua participated in multi-organ extractions from 65 “donors” from January 2000 to August 2006. When Chen ran the Wuhan Tongji hospital institute of organ transplantation in 2006, the hospital was asked if it could perform live organ transplantation from Falun Gong prisoners. The Kidney Transplant department replied: “Sure, it’s no problem…When you are ready, you can come over directly and we will discuss it in detail.”

• Liu Deruo: Department of Surgery in the China-Japan Friendship Hospital. 7 cases of single lung transplantation from brain-dead "donors” – a euphemism for live organ harvesting - before 2008. The hospital is a common destination for wealthy Japanese “organ tourists.”

• Chen Jingyu, the “No.1 Lung Transplant Surgeon in China.” Extracted lungs from 129 "donors" from 2002 to 2011. By 2014, Chen was doing up to five lung transplants per day. Taught perfusion preservation to 30 hospitals in 10 cities and provinces. If I am not mistaken, that’s Dr. Ko on the left, and Dr. Chen on the right.

• Fuwai Hospital, number 1 in heart transplants. Song Yunhu is the chief surgeon.

• Shanghai Chest Hospital, Gao Chengxin. The most bilateral lung transplants in China to date. Dr. Han Baohui, director of pulmonary medicine at Shanghai Chest Hospital, reported classmate Zhao Bin to the police for practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Zhao was arrested in April 2012 and was tortured to death at a Shanghai facility on October 19, 2013.

• Chen Liangwen, VP of Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, extracted hearts from 111 brain-dead "donors” - average age about 25 years, no cardiovascular diseases. Warm ischemia time of 0-15 minutes, suggesting pre-scheduled live organ harvesting.

• Wang Chunsheng. Director of Cardiac Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai, Shanghai’s premier organ transplant center. From 2000 to 2011, Wang extracted hearts from 298 "donors”: average age 27 years; no cardiovascular problems. Since 2007, 238 live hearts have been extracted at Zhongshan.

• Here is a recorded phone call to Zhongshan from 2006:

Investigator: … So how long do I have to wait [for organ transplant surgery]?

Doctor: About a week after you come…

Investigator: Is there the kind of organs that come from Falun Gong? I heard that they are very good.

Doctor: All of ours are those types.

Here’s a quote from Tan Yunshan, director of Zhongshan Hospital’s liver disease department in 2015.

“All the donor livers are directly extracted at the source. Because we do the extraction ourselves and have access to the original information of the donor organ, we would know for sure whether a donor liver can be used or not…We don’t care whether it’s from a Falun Gong practitioner or not. We don’t get involved in politics. As doctors, we only care about the donor liver, about whether it meets the requirements of transplantation. If it meets the requirements, we don’t care who it’s from.”

• Meng Xu, founder of the Beijing Heart Transplant Centre. From 1992 to 2006, Meng participated in the extraction of hearts from 51 “donors”: males; age range 21-43 years. No cardiovascular diseases. Warm ischemia time, 3-8 minutes. Meng has independently completed nearly 10,000 surgeries, with over 800 operations every year.

I am going to skip ahead because we are short on time.

• Last entry; Tianjin Central Hospital. Estimated to do 5000 transplants annually, essentially half of the entire transplant volume of China, according to Chinese official numbers, for over a decade. Over half of its patients are said to be foreign organ tourists.

So what was this conference about? Well, as the conference subtitle suggests: Medtronic ECMO. Medtronic is an American company based in Minnesota. And, Dr. Ko sells Medtronic ECMO machines and expertise on the Mainland.

ECMO can be used during harvesting, but the bottom line is that it prolongs the opportunity to use a lung or a heart up to eight hours. As Dr. Ko has pointed out, ECMO saves lives.

Indeed, it does. In Taiwan, in America, in Great Britain, in Japan, Australia. But in China, with a nearly inexhaustible supply of religious and political prisoners, do you think the majority of people at this

ECMO conference were interested in saving lives? I think they were interested in making money. From the perspective of that conference, Dr. Ko was valuable – until 2008 at least - to the Mainland organ transplant industry in three ways:

1) As a conduit to “organ tourists” from Taiwan

2) As a salesman of Medtronic ECMO equipment to the Mainland

3) As a teacher of ECMO techniques.

ECMO means that if you are harvesting a Falun Gong, or a Uyghur, or a Tibetan, you can make a lot more money from harvesting a single person. Here are the prices. And here is a picture of five Falun Gong refugees.

All of the women in this picture were in labor camp. All were tortured. One was sexually abused. And the woman on the left, Jing Tian, was examined for her organs. Before ECMO, if she was harvested while still alive, and tissue matched to foreign organ tourists who were present at the same hospital, she was worth $200,000 USD, maybe $250,000 USD, if we throw in the corneas. Let’s split the difference and call it $225,000 USD.

After ECMO? Jing Tian was worth $680,000 USD. And I think everyone at that ECMO conference in 2008 understood this calculation.

In short, no matter what the original intentions were, bringing ECMO to China created a perverse incentive to kill Falun Gong, Uyghurs, House Christians and Tibetans. We don’t know how many. We don’t know exactly how much Dr. Ko contributed to ECMO in China. Yet I have no doubt that ECMO accelerated the killing of innocent people. And I have no doubt that ECMO is a contributing factor to the spectacular growth of the transplant industry in China - and the spectacular human rights crisis that we see in Xinjiang today.

But is all this fair to Taiwan? Dr. Ko is the respected mayor of Taipei. He’s running for reelection. So, does Taiwan really have to deal with questions about what Dr. Ko was doing at the conference-from-hell a decade ago? In conclusion then, I want to explain why I think it is my responsibility as a writer, and as a co-founder of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China - or ETAC for short - to ask these questions.

One of the clearest voices in ETAC - a voice of constant wisdom, calm, and clarity - is that of David Matas. So, when some transplant patients warned us that our work was being used by anti-vax conspiracy theorists, I proposed that ETAC begin promoting voluntary organ donation. Matas stopped me short with a single phrase: “avoid mission creep.” And he was right; groups dilute their strength by adopting other agendas. And ETAC’s primary mission is to save lives in China.

And yet: David Matas recently compared organ harvesting of political and religious prisoners in China to a virus, a virus which does not end at China’s borders, but has begun to infect pockets of the global medical community.

Think of the Vatican conferences on human trafficking, where China’s organ transplant apparatus was presented as an example for the world to follow.

Think of The Transplantation Society’s high-profile visits to China, where members of their entourage referred to Falun Gong as an “evil cult” - to the delight of the Mainland Chinese Press.

Think of Huang Jiefu’s promise to bring Chinese transplant methods, including the transport of human organs, as a sort of perk to participants in China’s Belt and Road initiative.

So, if ETAC has another mission – a mission which clearly separates us from the sort of activism that can be reduced to a T-shirt slogan such as “Save the whales” or “Free Tibet”- it is this: history matters.

Mass murder - or “Cold Genocide” if you prefer - permanently alters the DNA of a society, not only in the victim populations, where the trauma ripples through generation after generation, but in the perpetrator class as well, where mass murder becomes an accepted method, an option, a tactic, to solve a problem or cover up an inconvenient crime. And I submit that describes Chinese organ harvesting accurately over the last two decades. And that history must be exposed. And we have no choice but to call out anyone who actively seeks to suppress that history.

Just two weeks ago, I watched as Taiwan’s Ministry of Health showed a surprising new transparency regarding the number of Taiwanese organ tourists who went to the Mainland - and resolved to enforce penalties on those who continue to flaunt Taiwan’s regulations. And I sat down in Taipei with some of the most impressive research professionals in the world.

And what is the focus of their investigations? It can be summarized in a single world: Complicity. It may be a minority at present, but many in Taiwan want to end medical complicity with the Mainland and they have opened multiple investigative lines. ECMO is only one piece of the puzzle. Several individuals – I won’t name them here - from several Taiwanese medical entities, possibly with different political affiliations - will likely be exposed.

This is the darkness that lies ahead. This is the unspoken fear that haunts Taiwanese society.

Now, it is much easier to attack me - or my 15-year-old son’s Instagram page for that matter - than to face that fear. Or to threaten Falun Gong practitioners. Or my publisher. Or to dismiss the whole thing as a political stunt. Or to simply say that there is “no evidence.”

Human Rights Organizations around the world quietly said just that for many years, until there was a tipping point. Our reports were, to paraphrase the US Congress, simply too “persistent and credible” to be ignored. Hearings were held. The press reported. And professionals from around the world laid their reputations on the line by joining Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting and ETAC. It became simply too embarrassing for Human Rights NGOs to deny the harvesting issue. Yet they did not shout “bloody murder” from the rooftops. Neither did any China-based reporter who treasures their Beijing access. Because their own actions during the years of denial was a form of “soft complicity.”

So yes, Taiwan is hardly alone in complicity. And that complicity is why Beijing has been able to carry out a vast crime against humanity in plain sight of the world, with relatively little consequence. And the lethargic Western response has terrible implications for our collective future.

And that is why the eyes of the world are on Taiwan today. Because Western, Japanese and South Korean medical entities - whether they have hard or soft complicity in Chinese organ harvesting - are watching. Medtronic, The Transplantation Society, and the Vatican are watching. The US Congress and Westminster are watching. How strange for such a small country to have such influence, such power. But, just this once, Taiwan has the whip hand.

As someone who has taken a few punches - and as someone who has pushed back a little too - I respect Taiwan’s free press and democracy. Politics may be a contact sport, and the news cycle may come down to 6 hours rather than 24, but the energy? It is irresistible. I suspect that Taiwan will find the truth of these matters – and I will advocate for Taiwan as the forward base of ETAC investigative activities going forward.

While I was in Taiwan, the news came that Beijing, finally feeling the global heat for incarcerating a million Uyghurs in camps, has moved 300,000 Uyghurs to undisclosed locations. Those locations may – or may not – be near organ harvesting facilities and hospitals. That’s speculation. It’s too early to say. But we are through the looking glass here - and it is theoretically possible that how Taiwan reacts might even influence how many Uyghur men, women, and even children will live or die.

So if Taiwan is listening? Show us the way, Taipei. This is your time to stand up for China’s victims, to speak up for those who have no voice. Show us that Taiwan will follow the truth, wherever it may lead.

Thank you.

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