China Reform Monitor: No. 1003

November 25:

Over the next two years as the number of people sentenced to death falls, China will reduce the use of executed prisoners’ organs for transplants, Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu said in comments carried by AsiaOne news. In 2005 during a World Health Organization meeting, Huang admitted to China’s high dependence on executed prisoners’ organs for transplants. Statistics from the Ministry of Health show about 1.5 million people in China need organ transplants, although only some 10,000 transplants are performed annually. Medical experts have long urged China to establish a transparent system for organ donation and distribution in order to increase the number of donors. In March 2010, the Ministry and the Red Cross Society of China launched a trial public organ donation system.

November 26:

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reports that following a mass anti-government protest including over 1,000 students “authorities are keeping a medical school in Qinghai’s Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture under ‘military lockdown’ with students contained inside the campus.” Three students of the medical school have been arrested and five of some 20 students injured during the police crackdown remained in critical condition, Britain’s The Guardian reports. The protest occurred after authorities required students answer a 10-point political questionnaire, made “disparaging remarks” against the Dalai Lama in compulsory patriotic education sessions, and distributed a book condemning the Tibetan language as irrelevant and self immolations as acts of stupidity. This week four more Tibetans lit themselves on fire to protest repression in Tibet, bringing to 22 the number of self-immolations this month and 85 since February 2009.

November 27:

The official Global Times has criticized as “groundless and sour” Russian media reports (see CRM 1002) claiming that China’s new J-15 carrier-borne fighter jet is a copy of Russia’s Su-33. Last weekend the J-15 made its debut in a landing and takeoff exercise on China’s new aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. Despite its “similar aerodynamic shape” to the Su-33 and China’s traditional “heavy reliance on imported Russian military aircraft,” which prompted the accusations of intellectual property rights infringements, the article maintained that “the J-15’s engine, fire-control system, electronics system, turbofan engines and other key components” were produced domestically. However, the article also explained that “due to a lack of independent innovation abilities” China has “borrowed ideas” and developed its military technologies by “absorbing other’s advantages.” On the carrier’s return voyage to base after the J-15 landing exercise, Luo Yang, chief of the J-15 project, died of heart attack.

Airborne troops and special forces from China and Belarus have held a second round of bilateral training exercises in China. During the 12-day exercise, which ended on December 7, forces from both sides parachuted into a training area before participating in a variety of integrated training and exercises, the official People’s Daily reports. The joint drills were conducted in accordance with the existing cooperation programs between the two militaries. China and Belarus conducted their first joint training drills for airborne troops in July 2011 in Belarus. Earlier this week the official China Daily reported that during Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu’s visit to Beijing, he and vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Xu Qiliang agreed on the basis of their recent naval and anti-terror drills to “upgrade [China-Russian] military relations to a higher level.”

November 29:

Under new rules that take effect on January 1 police in Hainan province, which holds jurisdiction over the South China Sea, have the authority to board and seize control of those foreign ships and their communication systems that “illegally enter” Chinese territorial waters, Reuters reports. China will also send new maritime surveillance ships to join the fleet responsible for patrolling the South China Sea. China’s policy had supported freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and did not restrict legitimate vessels’ access. The Philippines, which also claims parts of the South China Sea, said the move violates international maritime laws allowing the right of passage and accused Beijing of trying to escalate tension in the area.