— Washington, DC, September 10, 2025 —
The medical ethics advocacy group Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) is alarmed by a verbal exchange between CCP Chairman Xi and President Putin that was live-streamed from a military parade in Beijing on September 3, 2025.
A brief conversation between the Chinese and Russian government leaders about organ transplantation and longevity was captured on a broadcast livestream.
Xi’s translator: “In the past, people rarely lived longer than 70 years, but today they say that at 70 you are still a child.”
Putin’s translator: “Human organs can be continuously transplanted. The longer you live, the younger you become, and even achieve immortality.”
Xi’s translator: “Some predict that in this century, humans may live up to 150 years old.”
The remarks referenced longevity in connection with the idea that human organs could be “continuously transplanted.”
DAFOH is extremely alarmed and concerned about this conversation and its ethical implications.
1) Analysis of the “hot mic” incident
The exchange was streamed live as the group of leaders and guests were walking uphill, a mildly strenuous activity that can cause exhaustion in elderly individuals. It was at that moment that the conversation about “young age” was caught on mic.
The conversation occurred between the highest-ranking government leaders of two authoritarian states. After Chairman Xi remarked that 70 years is still young, President Putin replied that “human organs can be continuously transplanted,” suggesting that repeated transplantation could be a pathway to extending life to 150 years. It goes without saying that a single organ transplant does not achieve such longevity. The casual tone with which both leaders spoke, without regard for the scarcity of donor organs, is disturbing. Ethical medical guidelines demand the question: Where do the organs come from?
Organs are not “spare parts” like those used to extend the life of a car. The implied notion of continuously replacing human organs as if they were interchangeable commodities is deeply troubling to any medical professional bound by the Hippocratic oath.
Two days later, Reuters was forced to take down the video clip. Reuters reported: “The footage, which included the open mic exchange from the military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, was licensed by the Chinese state television network, China Central Television (CCTV).” If the conversation were merely about biotechnological advances or xenotransplantation, why would such drastic censorship be necessary? The removal only makes sense if the conversation was referencing sensitive information—such as the forced organ harvesting of living prisoners of conscience to provide an unlimited source of organs.
2) Forced organ harvesting from living prisoners of conscience
To consider “continuous transplantation” implies an abundant organ supply. Yet worldwide there is a critical shortage: only about 1% of registered organ donors ultimately become eligible donors. China claims 12% of registered donors are eligible—an implausibly high figure.
The unspoken explanation is forced organ harvesting from living prisoners of conscience, primarily Falun Gong practitioners. . The Chinese regime persecutes Falun Gong for its religious belief in truthfulness, compassion and forbearance for the past 26 years. Since 2006, when a whistleblower stepped forward, we learned that China’s transplant market is exploiting the bodies of Falun Gong practitioners by harvesting their organs for transplantation. With 100 million Falun Gong practitioners being persecuted through forced labor, brainwashing, torture, and eventually forced organ harvesting, the Chinese regime has turned its detention camps into “forced organ registries,” where Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to coerced blood tests and other medical examinations. The underlying concept of turning detention camps into “organ registries” is China’s “final solution” to annihilate Falun Gong practitioners while at the same time providing an abundance of organs within extremely short waiting times.
The secret of China’s “longevity” program is heinous and abominable: detain a persecuted minority and harvest organs on demand so that CCP leaders can extend their lifespans.
In 2019, the China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, concluded that forced organ harvesting had indeed taken place in China, with Falun Gong as the primary victims. In 2021, in an open letter, twelve UN special rapporteurs and experts echoed these concerns.
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith stated on March 27, 2023: “We also know through open-source Chinese media that elderly, high-ranking Communist Party officials have received replacement organs from the very people they despise and oppress at the People’s Liberation Army Hospital 301 in Beijing.”
3) From doctor to doctor
There is no question that transplant organs are scarce, and patients worldwide often wait years for a suitable donor. The purpose of medicine is to cure the sick—not to extend the lives of political elites through repeated organ replacement.
This ‘hot mic’ incident raises urgent ethical questions: should transplant medicine prioritize curing ordinary patients in need, or serve as a tool for authoritarian leaders to engineer longevity? Is transplant medicine on the verge of transforming from a healing profession into a bioengineering discipline to engineer longevity at the expense of other persons’ lives?
The transplant profession must not become a “fitness instrument” for replacing organs continuously in pursuit of longevity and immortality.
4) Calls to action
The implications of this “hot mic” incident are far more serious than mainstream media suggests.
- We call upon world leaders who cherish human dignity and the sanctity of life, as well as all medical professionals bound by the Hippocratic oath, to stand up for ethical transplant practices and help stop forced organ harvesting of living prisoners of conscience in China by demanding independent, international investigations of the organ harvesting crimes committed by the Chinese state against Falun Gong practitioners, Uighurs and others.
- We call upon transplant and medical associations worldwide to reject any suggestion that transplant medicine should serve as a tool to reach longevity or extending political elites’ lives.
- We call upon every person in the world to break the silence on China’s forced organ harvesting crimes and to sign the G7+7 petition.