Photo featured: Shanghai Renji Hospital East Campus (left), Renji Hospital (right)

Media Release: Trade Visit to China Raises National Concern Over Australia’s Human Rights Safeguards

Experts warn Queensland Trade’s possible health collaboration with China may pose risks without verifiable organ-source transparency

QUEENSLAND – Tuesday, 21 October, 2025

Queensland’s recent trade mission(1) to China, which included a visit to Shanghai Renji Hospital,(2) has triggered warnings from international legal experts and human rights groups about potential complicity in unethical organ transplant practices.

The delegation, led by Trade Minister Ros Bates, explored possible training and clinical-trial collaborations with Renji Hospital, a major national centre for liver transplants. Notably, the official Queensland Government media statement(3) on the mission made no mention of the visit to Renji Hospital or of any health-related engagement, despite the hospital’s prominence and the inclusion of medical collaboration in the formal trip report. While no commitments were made, the engagement has drawn scrutiny due to the hospital’s profile and transplant track record.

While trade engagement with China is routine, experts stress that collaboration with institutions like Renji Hospital – a major national centre for organ transplants – presents unique human rights risks. During the visit, the Minister explored opportunities in areas such as professional development, clinical trials and hospital management training. Although transplant medicine was not explicitly referenced, the involvement of a transplant institution raises serious concerns. Without clear assurances that future collaboration will exclude transplant-related activities, experts warn that Queensland Health risks reputational and legal exposure due to China’s ongoing lack of transparency and traceability in organ sourcing.

The concern stems from long-standing evidence that China’s transplant system has operated without transparency or independent oversight, amid findings by independent investigations that organs have been taken from prisoners of conscience — a practice international experts describe as forced organ harvesting.

“No medical collaboration should proceed in the dark,” said David Matas, a Canadian human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee currently visiting Australia. “China’s transplant system still operates without basic transparency or independent oversight. Entering partnerships in that environment carries real risk — not only of reputational damage, but of complicity in serious human rights violations.”

Human rights advocates caution that any agreements in this area could expose Queensland institutions to reputational and legal consequences under international business and human rights frameworks. They are calling on the Government to:

- Pause and Review: Place any institutional engagement with Renji Hospital on hold pending an independent ethical and human rights review.
- Expert Briefings: Ensure decision-makers are briefed by independent experts
- Binding Policy: Implement a clear policy prohibiting partnerships with institutions unable to demonstrate full transparency in organ sourcing.

“The issue is not medical exchange in general,” said Distinguished Professor Wendy Rogers, of Macquarie University. “The problem is transplant medicine in China, which breaches international ethical norms. The lack of transparency and credible evidence of severe transplant-related human rights abuses mean that engagement with the Chinese transplant sector is problematic under international ethical and human rights standards.”

State-Sanctioned Abuses and the Transparency Deficit

In 2020, the China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, concluded that the Chinese State had, “beyond reasonable doubt,” carried out forced organ harvesting from detained Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs, constituting crimes against humanity. The Tribunal found the practice to be state-sanctioned, systematic, and ongoing.

Estimates suggest 60,000 to 100,000(4) organ transplants are performed annually in China – far exceeding official claims. Despite a 2015 announcement ending organ sourcing from executed prisoners, no legal reforms followed and the use of organs from prisoners of conscience remains unprohibited. China continues to operate without independent oversight or any system of verifiable organ traceability – a condition that falls far below standards set by the World Health Organization and the World Medical Association.

Legal experts warn foreign institutions face liability over China transplant links

In 2022, the international human rights law firm Global Rights Compliance (GRC), led by Wayne Jordash KC, issued a legal advisory(5) applying the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to the context of foreign collaboration with regions where organ trafficking is a documented concern.

The advisory concluded that foreign institutions risk criminal liability, including aiding and abetting, if they engage in training, research, or supply chains that facilitate or benefit from forced organ harvesting.

Specific risk areas include:

- Clinical training of transplant surgeons involved in unethical operations.
- Supply of medical devices or pharmaceuticals used in illicit transplant procedures.
- Clinical research involving organs obtained without lawful consent or traceability.

“Businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights,” said international human rights barrister, Madeleine Bridgett. “This means businesses should avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities, and those impacts are to be addressed when they do occur. Universities, hospitals and research facilities are all operating businesses with that responsibility. Collaborating with China’s transplant industry, at any level, raises serious business and human rights concerns, especially given what is known about China’s state-sanctioned organ harvesting trade and the concerns about serious breaches of fundamental human rights.”

Urgent call for Legislative Reform

GRC’s findings also point to a legislative gap in Australia. Experts argue for the introduction of binding human rights due diligence laws requiring institutions to assess and mitigate risks when operating in high-risk environments.

Without enforceable obligations, institutions may continue to enter partnerships that expose them to criminal liability and serious ethical breaches.

Human rights advocates have also requested urgent meetings with Minister Ros Bates and senior Queensland officials to clarify what human rights safeguards and due diligence processes were in place during the engagement with Renji Hospital. They are seeking assurances from both the Queensland and Australian Governments that no medical collaboration will proceed without full alignment with international standards on transparency and accountability.

“For years, credible reports have raised grave concerns about China’s involvement in forced organ harvesting, particularly from prisoners of conscience. No one in need of life-saving treatment should have their survival linked to human rights abuse. Medical collaboration that risks complicity in such violations is unacceptable. Ethical boundaries must be clear, firm, and upheld,” said Carolyn Kitto, OAM, Co-Director of Be Slavery Free.

References

People’s Republic of China Trade Mission, Report to Parliament https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Tabled-Papers/docs/5825T0641/5825t641.pdf
Shanghai Renji Hospital’s Department of Liver Surgery / Liver Transplantation is described by SJTU Med as the Shanghai Organ Transplantation Clinical Medical Center, and “the largest liver transplant centre in China” and “the largest paediatric liver transplant centre internationally,” led by Prof. Xia Qiang. (Shenzhen University. An NEJM Career Centre profile states the Department of Liver Surgery (Shanghai Organ Transplantation Institute) is a national key clinical specialty of organ transplantation and a national organ transplantation training base. (employer.nejmcareercenter.org). Shanghai’s official English site has Shanghai Renji Hospital’s specialties including Liver Surgery and Nephrology (kidney), which are core transplant disciplines. (Shanghai Government English Site). Recent official news reports from Shanghai and partner institutions highlight Shanghai Renji Hospital performing paediatric living-donor liver transplants and refer again to Renji as home to the world’s largest paediatric liver transplant centre. (Shanghai Government English Site)]
https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/102588
https://chinatribunal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ChinaTribunal_JUDGMENT_1stMarch_2020.pdf
https://globalrightscompliance.com/project/do-no-harm-policy-guidance-and-legal-advisory-report/ and a short video on the resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-bui7E9Mng