"Zheng Qiaozhi -- we will call him George -- still has nightmares. He was interning at China's Shenyang Army General Hospital when he was drafted to be part of an organ-harvesting team. The young prisoner was brought in, tied hand and foot, but very much alive. The army doctor in charge sliced him open from chest to belly button and exposed his two kidneys. 'Cut the veins and arteries,' he told his shocked intern. George did as he was told."
When it came time to take out the prisoner's eyeballs, George couldn't do it, the New York Post explains in a harrowing article. Bleeding and terrified, the teenager on the table gave him a look he'll never forget. It was the last thing the patient ever saw. He, like countless other victims of China's ghoulish practice, died. George is one of the few brave witnesses to speak out. Haunted by the experience, he quit his job and fled to Canada. Now, thanks to his bravery, others', and the conclusions of an important tribunal, China is finally being exposed for the monsters they are.
"Experts estimate that between 60,000 and 100,000 organs are transplanted annually in China. Multiply that number times the cost of a liver transplant ($170,000) or a kidney transplant ($130,000), and the result is an eye-popping $10 billion to 20 billion." In the report that's bringing some of this torture to light, 10 hospitals admitted using the Falun Gong as an organ supply -- usually from live patients, many who are "prisoners of conscience."
Now, as the global concern over the persecution of the country's Uyghurs rise, there are new fears that the Muslim minority is next in line for organ harvesting. As many as two million are already wasting away in prison camps for their beliefs, where they would be easy pickings for a regime with no sense of humanity. These are enterprising communists, the Post points out, since "China is not just ridding itself of troublesome minorities, it is profiting mightily in the process."
As usual, the country has gone to great lengths to cover up the violence. Now, with the crackdown on Christians intensifying, the West has to be wondering if any faith group is safe. Tomorrow, President Trump will meet again with China President Xi Jinping to talk trade. Let's hope another major piece of that discussion is religious tolerance, which should be a condition of any deal. "Over the past 17 years," Vice President Mike Pence said on October, "China's GDP has grown nine-fold; it's become the second-largest economy in the world. Much of this success was driven by American investment in China... For a time, Beijing inched toward greater liberty and respect for human rights. But in recent years, China has taken a sharp U-turn toward control and oppression of its own people."
That must stop -- and the United States must play a pivotal role ensuring it does. Let's all pray for these talks -- that they'll open the door to greater understanding of the need to protect religious freedom and dignity in China.
