United States Department of State refutes rumor of Falun Gong "organ harvesting"

Kaiwind.com, Oct. 24, 2012 - On April 14, 2006, United States Department of State spokesman Sean McCormack claimed that, through field investigation, the United States has found no evidence to support the allegations of Falun Gong's "organ harvesting". The article U.S. Finds No Evidence of Alleged Concentration Camp in China published on April 16, 2006 on Usinfo.state.gov, the website of US International Information Programs (IIP), said: "U.S. representatives have found no evidence to support allegations that a site in northeast China has been used as a concentration camp to jail Falun Gong practitioners and harvest their organs, according to the U.S. Department of State. Officers and staff from the U.S. embassy in Beijing and the U.S. consulate in Shenyang have visited the area and the specific site on two separate occasions. In these visits the officers were allowed to tour the entire facility and grounds and found no evidence that the site is being used for any function other than as a normal public hospital." Why did the United States Department of State send such a statement? On March 9, 2006, Falun Gong website Epochtimes.com published the article titled Shenyang Concentration Camp Sets Cremator for Selling Falun Gong Practitioners' Organs, claiming that there was a secret camp in Sujiatun District, Shenyang City, the capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, over 6,000 Falun Gong members were arrested there and were cremated after "organ harvesting". After that, Falun Gong has been spreading rumor around "Sujiatun Concentration Camp", lobbying some politicians from certain countries, and holding some so-called protesting activities. Since the rumor is too outrageous, it has drawn countless questions from the beginning. Falun Gong changed tone immediately, and fabricated the so-called "concentration camp" to Liaoning Thrombus Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (commonly known as Sujiatun Thrombus Hospital). Besides, Falun Gong also published the hospital's photos and the so-called cremator online. The Falun Gong disinformation has been repeatedly rejected by Chinese authorities. On March 31, 2006, the direct rumor victim Liaoning Thrombus Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine clarified the fact on Thrombusres-cn.net, the website of "Network of China Thrombus Disease Research". Locating in downtown, the hospital is classified as second-level first-class, with no ability of "removing human organs" in the aspects of medical instruments, equipment level, physicians permission etc. Moreover, the hospital can not keep 6,000 people at all with only 300 beds, and the socalled cremator is just the general boiler of the hospital. On April 4, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman refuted the rumors of Falun Gong in response to the reporter of AP.

On April 12, Sujiatun district government and Liaoning Thrombus Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine held a news conference held in the State Council, and condemned the despicable act of Falun Gong. After the rumors appeared, many media in and out of China went to Sujiatun for on-thespot interview. For example, China News Agency on March 24, Japan's NHK, Hongkong's Phoenix TV and Ta Kung Pao on March 31 visited Sujiatun and the Hospital respectively. Phoenix TV pointed out clearly in the report that the secret "concentration camp" of Falun Gong didn't exist at all. On April 12, in the press conference held by Chinese State Council Information Office, CNN, Washington Post, Reuters, AP, Singapore United Morning Post, Phoenix TV of Hongkong and Japan's Asahi Shimbun, totally 11 domestic and foreign media conducted live interviews. They all reported that Sujiatun government and Liaoning Thrombus Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine refuted Falun Gong rumor with facts. The caption of Reuters was China Condemned Falun Gong of "Concentration Camp". The United States embassy consulate officials visited Sujiatun twice. On March 22, a Shenyang-based official from the United States Consulate conducted a comprehensive visit on the Hospital. He favored the hospital's environment and medical conditions, and agreed to introduce the hospital to his friends. Subsequently, the Associated Press interviewed the United States Embassy of Beijing. According to the report, a spokeswoman from the United States Embassy of Beijing said: "According to all the information we have been able to obtain thus far, the site is functioning only as a hospital." On April 14, Consul General David Kombluth of US Consulate General in Shenyang and other two officials from US Embassy paid a thorough three-and-a-half-hour visit to the Hospital, including its lab of pharmacology, surgery room, canteen storage, garage, trash house, boiler room, chimney, archives as well as its neighborhood. On the same day, US Department of State released its report on the two investigations.