A 10-year reform that has shaken off China’s dependence on executed inmates as the primary source for transplant organs has brought the country to the Vatican to share on the world stage its experience in combating organ commercialism.

Huang Jiefu, a former vice-minister of health and now director of the National Human Organ Donation and Transplant Committee, was invited by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Science to speak about the “China model” of organ donation and transplant management at the two-day Summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism that opened on Tuesday.

“This is the first time that China has been invited to a summit on organ transplanting held by an authoritative international organization,” Huang was quoted by the Global Times as saying on Monday. He could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Chen Jingyu, deputy director of Wuxi People’s Hospital in Jiangsu province and a leading lung transplant specialist, said such an invitation is “a New Year gift for us Chinese transplant surgeons who have been gradually recognized by international peers”.

In response to speculation on whether the invitation marks an improvement in China-Vatican relations, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday at a regular media briefing that Huang’s participation “has nothing to do with the development of the bilateral relationship”.

China first performed a transplant in the 1970s, and Huang acknowledged in 2005 that a majority of the organs transplanted were harvested from executed prisoners.

To conform with international practice, China launched a public organ donation system and announced in 2015 that the use of organs from executed inmates had ceased.

By the end of last year, about 28,000 major organs such as livers, kidneys and lungs were harvested from nearly 10,000 donors who had died, according to data from the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

More than 140,000 people have registered under the organ donation system, according to the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, an organization under the commission.

“That demonstrates the great benevolence of the Chinese and an ever-increasing voluntarism,” Huang said earlier.

That helps China gain international acclaim and, more important, “sustain the development of organ transplantation here”, said Guo Zhiyong, a leading liver transplant surgeon at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

“I consider the invitation by the Vatican a recognition and huge encouragement for China’s organ transplantation field,” he said.

“An increasing Chinese involvement in global academic exchanges in transplants also benefits the world, since China ranks second in the world in the number of transplants, second only to the United States,” Guo added.

Chen, from Wuxi People’s Hospital, urged more Chinese surgeons to participate in international academic communications and “inform the world of China’s changes”.

However, there is still a long way to go before China’s organ donations fully satisfy the demand, said Huang, the former vice-minister of health.

Although China performs about 10,000 transplants a year, 300,000 patients are waiting for organs, previous reports said.

Marathon running is gaining rising popularity in China these days. Eight marathons were held in January in the country. However, runners’ awareness of injury prevention lags behind.

A recent survey conducted among around 10,000 runners by iranshao.com, a website focused on running, shows that over one third of runners have had knee injuries, about one fifth have had foot or waist injuries, about one seventh have had ankle injuries or suffered from plantar fasciitis, and only 15.7 percent haven’t had any injuries, which means six of seven runners have had injuries related to running.

In 2016, China held 328 marathons, attracting about 2.8 million participants, a massive 85 percent increase over 2015.

A commission will be established to deliberate important policies on cyber security and organize reviews, according to a document released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on Tuesday.

The document, on the security of Internet products and services, has just been released for public opinion. The CAC will establish the commission with other authorities.

The document proposed that Internet products and services related to national security and the public interests should undergo a security review.

According to the CAC, reviews will focus on whether the products or services are secure and sufficiently managed, and on assessing risks of illegal control, disruption or interruption.

The reviews will also evaluate risks of providers using their products or services to illegally gather, store, process or make use of user information.

In addition, unfair competition, monopolization or any other functions that may damage users’ interests will be reviewed, according to the CAC.

Any service or product that fails the review will be blacklisted, making them off limits to all Communist Party of China (CPC) organs, government departments, and key industries.

HIGHLIGHTING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The review is neither a legal practice nor an administrative one, said an official with the CAC, but is merely supervision of important Internet products and services.

The review will not hinder foreign products from entering the Chinese market, but will only to boost confidence in such products and services, the official said. Authorities will treat Internet products and services from home and abroad equally.

Zuo Xiaodong, vice president of the China Information Security Research Institute, a government think tank, said the regulation means that while products and services that fail the review will be blacklisted, it does not mean that all Internet products and services purchased by CPC organs, government departments and key industries will be reviewed.

LAW-BASED INTERNET REGULATION

China has introduced a number of Internet laws and regulations and is home to about 700 million Internet users, the world’s largest online population.

In December, the CAC released a cyberspace security strategy, guaranteeing cyberspace sovereignty and national security, protecting information infrastructure and promising action against cyber terror and crime.

In November, a cyber security law stipulated that the government would take measures to “monitor, defend and handle cyber security risks and threats originating from within the country or overseas sources, protecting key information infrastructure from attack,intrusion, disturbance and damage.”

In July 2015, China’s top legislature adopted a new national security law highlighting cyber security and demanding the establishment of a coordinated, efficient crisis management system.

The law covers a wide spectrum of areas including defense, finance, science and technology, culture and religion.

Teresa
Pearce, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, commenting on the news that Surrey
County Council is not going to hold a referendum on 15 percent council tax
rise, said:

“The
Government should not be trying to deal with the national social care crisis
through backroom deals with sympathetic Tory council leaders in an attempt to
avoid negative publicity.

“Across
the country, people are facing steep rises in their council tax bills, whilst
the provision and quality of social care is declining. Council tax rises
are nothing more than a short-term sticking plaster for a problem that
needs long-term solutions. And they create a postcode lottery in social care,
because they raise the least money in areas with the greatest
need. 

“There is
an unprecedented crisis in social care, with care providers handing contracts
back to councils, 1.2 million elderly people living without the care they need
and delayed discharges causing huge pressure on the NHS. The Government must
come forward with a long-term strategic rethink of social care funding, as
well as urgent funding to stem the crisis which is hurting elderly and
disabled people right now.”

Ends

Commenting
on the Government’s concession regarding a meaningful vote in Parliament on a
final deal to leave the EU, Keir Starmer, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State
for Exiting the European Union said:

“This is
a significant victory for Parliament, and follows months of concerted pressure
from Labour.

“Labour
has repeatedly said that Parliament must have a meaningful vote on any final
Brexit deal – that means MPs are able to vote on the final deal before it is
concluded; that the Commons has a debate and vote before the European
Parliament does; and that the vote will cover withdrawal from the EU as well as
our future relationship with the EU.

“This
eleventh hour concession is therefore welcome, but it needs to be firmed up as
the Bill progresses through both Houses.”