So it's worth noting that allegations about organ harvesting have been circulating since at least the 2000s. There is likely (almost certainly) credibility in the claims that political prisoners (mostly Falun Gong practitioners) were harvested for organs in the early 2000s. From what I can tell, the tribunal is validating that these abuses occurred.
However, there is not any hard evidence (that I know of - I'd be happy to be corrected) of recent harvesting or coerced organ donation from recent years - in particular, in 2015 China agreed to stop using prisoners as organ sources (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/04/china-stop-usi...).
So I'll be curious to hear the final report - whether it mentions recent abuses or not.
When I was younger, maybe five years ago or so, I was living in Boston and I'd consistently see a pack of Chinese protestors outside the public library at Copley (very popular area) holding up signs, looking to gain attention for this very issue. They spoke to me as best as they could, handed me a pamphlet with hard-to-parse English but nonetheless gruesome descriptions, and asked for my signature along with any othe…
I can guarantee you many Chinese protestors you can see in US are protesting for political asylum. For them, protesting for is only a way to green card. Almost every Chinese Uber driver I met in SF are under political asylum
When I was younger, maybe five years ago or so, I was living in Boston and I'd consistently see a pack of Chinese protestors outside the public library at Copley (very popular area) holding up signs, looking to gain attention for this very issue. They spoke to me as best as they could, handed me a pamphlet with hard-to-parse English but nonetheless gruesome descriptions, and asked for my signature along with any othe…
I regularly go to a restaurant run by some Falun Gong refugees, and I've spent a fair bit of time, while waiting, perusing their pamphlets and books. To be honest, my feeling has been exactly the same as yours - while, from my very first interaction, I was aware that Falun Gong were persecuted in China, and while I don't really have a rosy picture of what that entails, their political writing and pampletting is just really awfully put together, especially for a western audience. They're full of gruesome paintings of torture that, you know, are paintings, so come across as melodramatic - even when you're pretty sure that torture is part and parcel of persecution, and you find it hard to imagine the chinese state _not_ torturing at least some Falun Gong. That's kind of what happens with all their material. You start looking at the people handing it out, and it's pretty obvious they've had a very hard time at the hands of the Chinese state, but then after reading it, you feel less convinced than if they'd handed you nothing at all.
A ground war with China will leave most of the United States a nuclear crater.
Obviously assuming an avoidance of nuclear escalation, which it is very much in China’s interest to avoid- best estimates say China has less than 300 weapons, not all of which have delivery systems capable of reaching the US and many are potentially targetable by for counterforce strikes. Still an absolutely horrendous toll to pay for an escalation. The US in contrast has 4000 active warheads, with at least 1300 on c…
That’s like saying Arnold and Carl are standing waist deep in a pool of gasoline. Arnold has 4000 matches, Carl has 300. Who’s going to survive the fire?
> "According to the reports, political prisoners, mainly Falun Gong practitioners, are being executed "on demand" in order to provide organs to recipients." Wild... I had no idea this was going on. There are a lot of things about China that I disagree with, but this might be the worst thing I've heard so far.
China, like Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia - any nation that is a totalitarian state - will commit endless atrocities so long as those in power believe they can get away with it. Be it their own people or other nations. And they do get away with it. All so I can buy a phone for 20% less that it would cost to manufacture in my own country. A few million dead, disfigured, tortured, scarred, raped. Billions living under t…
>And they do get away with it. All so I can buy a phone for 20% less that it would cost to manufacture in my own country. A few million dead, disfigured, tortured, scarred, raped. Billions living under thought control. Chump change to keep my clothes dirt cheap so the Walton family can buy a few more islands in the Caribbean while Jeff Bezos accumulates enough money to buy the moon.
Are you really saying that if US President had balls to push China on human rights then China would retaliate by refusing to produce cheap phones and clothes for US? Or say Russia would stop selling the oil?
At first look, from a Western perspective, this is 100% clear-cut morally bad. But I've also learned a limited amount about the Chinese moral perspective in college, and it can be a useful exercise to examine how someone who doesn't have a Judeo-Christian/Locke moral framework may view this practice. In some ways, the harvesting of organs from political prisoners can be viewed as the trolley problem. Killing one poli…
> At first look, from a Western perspective, this is 100% clear-cut morally bad. There is no such thing as a western perspective or morals. Just like there is no such thing as an asian perspective or morals. The western, just like the asian or even chinese, perspective is so vast and disparate and diverse that it is futile to pigeonhole one region into a single perspective. Case in point, the "west" encompasses every…
>The judeo and christian are morally antithetical. The basis of christ and christianity is the fundamental shift from judeo values and morals to christian ones.
I have Jewish friends, they are not morally antiethical to Christian values, they are moral people who I love.
Everything I know about Judaism informs me that its practioners share my morals.
Please state specifically where you believe the gap between Judaic morality and Christian morality lies?
Can you say why you cringe at the term Judaeo-Christian?
We fund them because it helps the people in charge get rich off the backs of cheap Chinese labor. We (the U.S) tolerate their disrespect for human rights because we also do not respect human rights, as demonstrated by our relationship with Saudi Arabia, our many horrible wars, etc. We also do not respect national sovereignty, as demonstrated by our covert wars in South America, our firebombing of Vietnam, Laos, and C…
>We (the U.S) tolerate their disrespect for human rights because we also do not respect human rights I'm sorry but this statement is just absolutely and completely ridiculous. I don't know if you've either never been to The United States, or you've never left The United States, but the difference between the respect that we have for human rights, and the respect that much of the rest of the world has, is stark.
The US talks about respecting human rights, but has no problem with 1 million dead Iraqi civilians.
Individual Americans may respect human rights. Just like individual Chinese do as well. But when you challenge them as a nation, well, then the needs of the stong outweigh the needs of the weak.
We fund them because it helps the people in charge get rich off the backs of cheap Chinese labor. We (the U.S) tolerate their disrespect for human rights because we also do not respect human rights, as demonstrated by our relationship with Saudi Arabia, our many horrible wars, etc. We also do not respect national sovereignty, as demonstrated by our covert wars in South America, our firebombing of Vietnam, Laos, and C…
>We (the U.S) tolerate their disrespect for human rights because we also do not respect human rights I'm sorry but this statement is just absolutely and completely ridiculous. I don't know if you've either never been to The United States, or you've never left The United States, but the difference between the respect that we have for human rights, and the respect that much of the rest of the world has, is stark.
If you change it from human rights to American rights, then I'd agree with your statement.
When I was younger, maybe five years ago or so, I was living in Boston and I'd consistently see a pack of Chinese protestors outside the public library at Copley (very popular area) holding up signs, looking to gain attention for this very issue. They spoke to me as best as they could, handed me a pamphlet with hard-to-parse English but nonetheless gruesome descriptions, and asked for my signature along with any othe…
I regularly go to a restaurant run by some Falun Gong refugees, and I've spent a fair bit of time, while waiting, perusing their pamphlets and books. To be honest, my feeling has been exactly the same as yours - while, from my very first interaction, I was aware that Falun Gong were persecuted in China, and while I don't really have a rosy picture of what that entails, their political writing and pampletting is just…
I'm also always struck by the culture gap when Falun Gong tries to communicate to western audiences. The main slogan that I've seen on banners at their protests: "Falun Dafa Is Good".
This made me think of nothing so much as the "Log Song" from Ren and Stimpy:
We fund them because it helps the people in charge get rich off the backs of cheap Chinese labor. We (the U.S) tolerate their disrespect for human rights because we also do not respect human rights, as demonstrated by our relationship with Saudi Arabia, our many horrible wars, etc. We also do not respect national sovereignty, as demonstrated by our covert wars in South America, our firebombing of Vietnam, Laos, and C…
>We (the U.S) tolerate their disrespect for human rights because we also do not respect human rights I'm sorry but this statement is just absolutely and completely ridiculous. I don't know if you've either never been to The United States, or you've never left The United States, but the difference between the respect that we have for human rights, and the respect that much of the rest of the world has, is stark.
How many children do you hold imprisoned right now?
How many children have been defending themselves in courts recently?
How many women, trans or otherwise have been suffering at the hands of your anti-women/abortion movement?
You don't even prosecute the people who commit atrocities in your own country, much less those that commit them in others.
You don't have respect for human rights or values.