It’s Time for America to Cut Transplant Ties With China

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Health Subcommittee in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on June 24, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Commentary

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. deserves praise for his bold action to restore the sanctity of human life in the U.S. organ transplant system. Under his leadership, Health and Human Services (HHS) exposed violations of the “dead donor rule” in U.S. hospitals, where organs were taken from donors who may not have been fully deceased.

This moral courage—demonstrated by decertifying two federally funded organ procurement organizations and implementing comprehensive reforms—represents exactly the kind of principled leadership needed to address an even more disturbing reality: U.S. institutions are working with Chinese entities that, quietly or overtly, are tied to the forced organ harvesting industry of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The domestic violations Kennedy addressed pale in comparison to transplant realities in China. If there ever was any doubt about the CCP’s culpability, it became clear in the recent hot mic moment when CCP leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin were caught discussing “continual organ transplantation” to achieve a possible 150-year lifespan. That is the longevity target of the “981 Project,” which aims to extend the lives of the CCP’s elites.

With this in full view, what better time than now to address communist China’s systemic killing of prisoners of conscience for their organs?

Armstrong Williams, co-owner of The Baltimore Sun, powerfully explained China’s transplant industry in the publication in September, and HHS responded on X: “In China, forced organ harvesting of prisoners has continued for over 20 years. To affirm the sanctity of human life, America must sever its ties with China’s organ transplant system.”

American Involvement

The U.S.–China transplant connection is extensive. Hundreds of Chinese organ transplant surgeons have trained in major U.S. institutions, from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to Mount Sinai Health System, which have formal partnerships with Chinese transplant centers, sharing expertise and giving them a false air of legitimacy.

In a May 2025 letter to Harvard’s president, the House Select Committee on the CCP wrote that they had “identified multiple instances where Harvard researchers worked with Chinese researchers on organ transplantation-related research”—some of which was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

China’s transplant industry also relies on Western technology. Most of China’s organ preservation solutions, surgical instruments, immunosuppressive drugs, and transplant diagnostics come from the United States or Europe and fueled China’s transplant boom during the height of forced organ harvesting, according to the Institute to Research the Crimes of Communism.

All of this casual U.S. engagement with a foreign transplant industry that systemically violates the dead donor rule has led to a softening of ethical protections in the U.S. system. A recent New York Times op-ed by prominent cardiologists that advocates for redefining death to increase organ availability is a case in point.

Extending Kennedy’s Reforms Internationally

Kennedy’s domestic reforms offer a model for action. HHS imposed penalties on a U.S. organ procurement organization after finding that 29 percent of its cases showed “concerning features.” It also instituted wider reforms such as mandatory patient safety officers, enhanced monitoring, and zero tolerance for violations. These should extend to international partnerships as well.

For example, the United States could stop enabling China’s industrial-scale violations. Of course, HHS has no jurisdiction over China, but it can ensure U.S. entities aren’t involved through the lever of funding, similar to how the Trump administration recently terminated $2 billion in grants to Harvard for civil rights violations and policy misalignment.

No U.S. institution should collaborate with Chinese transplant programs until forced organ harvesting ends. No NIH grant should support research involving Chinese transplant centers or personnel.

Legislation can also be enacted. One option could follow the Wolf Amendment model, which restricts NASA’s cooperation with China to protect sensitive technologies. A similar law could bar U.S. health agencies, universities, hospitals, and companies from working with Chinese transplant entities unless they can prove ethical sourcing.

This would build on two promising federal bills—the Falun Gong Protection Act and the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act. They both passed the U.S. House in May and now await Senate approval. If passed, these laws would impose sanctions on and revoke passports of individuals linked to Chinese organ trafficking, which would be the strongest U.S. response to this crisis yet. Additional federal legislation to prevent health insurance from paying for Chinese transplants, mirroring some state-level efforts, is also advancing. These efforts should be pushed forward.

Rebuilding Trust Through Moral Clarity

Kennedy rightly insists that “every American should feel safe becoming an organ donor and giving the gift of life.” This moral clarity demands that U.S. expertise, technology, and funding never enable the murder of prisoners for their organs.

China’s transplant system—built on coercion and opacity—contradicts the ethical standards that we believe in the West: respect for human life, informed consent, and medical integrity.

Public trust is at stake. After reports of domestic organ procurement violations surfaced in July and August 2025, a 700 percent surge was reported in donor registration removals from the National Donate Life Registry. Rebuilding confidence is both a moral and practical necessity.

Kennedy’s reforms prioritize ethics and patient safety over institutional pressures. The United States’ moral leadership requires severing ties with systems that kill innocent people to profit from their organs. These ties may be entrenched, but doing what’s right, not what’s easy, is the path forward. Only then can we ensure, as Kennedy declared, that “every potential donor’s life is treated with the sanctity it deserves.”

Jan Jekielek is a senior editor at The Epoch Times and host of “American Thought Leaders.” He has covered China-related issues for over 20 years and is the author of the forthcoming book, “Killed to Order: China’s Organ Harvesting Industry and the True Nature of America’s Biggest Adversary,” to be released in February 2026.

Originally published by The Baltimore Sun

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.