Canadian researchers probing China's alleged harvesting of organs from Falun Gong members yesterday urged Taiwan to prohibit the cross-strait trade in human organs.
The pair made the call during a public meeting with Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (
David Matas, an international human rights lawyer, and former Canadian Secretary of State for the Asia Pacific Region David Kilgour conducted an investigation into allegations of organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China. They claim the Chinese government is involved in live organ harvesting on a wide scale.
"The supply is from China, but the demand is international. Demand comes from everywhere, including Canada. We are aware that demand also comes in part from Taiwan," he told Wu, adding that the key to stopping the practice of organ harvesting is to cut off both supply and demand.
"We are pleased to see that Taiwan has enacted a regulation prohibiting doctors from referring patients to China for transplants," Matas said.
Kilgour said that he and Matas were not permitted to enter China to conduct their research and Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng (
Two other interested parties joined Kilgour and Matas during the presentation -- an academic from National Taiwan University, Ming Chu-cheng (明居正), and Wang Wenyi (王文怡), the protester who heckled Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in Washington on April 20 during a joint press conference with US President George W. Bush.
Wang said that the Chinese people will never know the extent of Falun Gong's persecution because of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) distortion of the truth.
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