CHINA - Just nine days before the opening of the National Military Organ Transplant Committee Establishment Conference & Its First Forum, the organizer suddenly postponed the meeting, saying they were following directives from upper level authorities. The conference, originally scheduled from May 12 to May 14, has been strongly questioned after the issue of live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China began receiving increasing international attention; many signs indicated that the live organ harvesting is directly linked to China’s military system.
The conference was to be hosted by the National Military Organ Transplant Committee and one of the main organizers is the People’s Liberation Army Organ Transplant Institute at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital – a famous military hospital in China. Nearly every organ transplant expert from inside and outside the Chinese military system, especially experts from the medical department of the military general logistics system, were planning to attend the meeting.
According to investigations by an Epoch Times journalist, nearly everyone planning to attend the conference had received telephone calls from overseas about the exposure of live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and these telephone calls really shocked medical circles within the military.
Currently, the conference notice website of the National Military Organ Transplant Forum has been deleted from the Chinese Organ Transplant Gateway Website. In addition all website links about organ transplant conferences in China planned for the year have been removed.
Some experts believe that there is potential that many of the proposed conference attendees, which included almost every transplant expert in China, might be directly involved in live organ harvesting, and that even those with no direct involvement feared associating themselves in case of future criminal actions. These same experts opine that the meeting might be rescheduled secretly, but not announced publicly to avoid negative publicity.
Translation of the Cancellation Notice
Below is a translation of the official notice announcing the cancellation of the planned conference, taken from the Transorgan.com website:
Urgent Notice on the National Military Organ Transplant Conference
According to directives from upper level authorities, after discussions between the institute and hospital leaders and after notifying the National Military Organ Transplant Committee Establishment Team, the National Military Organ Transplant Committee Establishment Conference & Its First Forum, which was originally planned to be held from May 12 to May 14 2006 at the Shanghai Everbright Convention & Exhibition Center, has been postponed. A detailed schedule will be announced later.
