Tarnished American Philanthropy in China
By LARRY ROMANOFF
作者：拉里·罗马诺夫
According to Chinese state authorities, Ron Brown of the AGAPE Foundation of Peachtree City, Georgia, traveled to Wuhan in late 2004 and signed a contract with several domestic charitable organisations in China to provide 2 million RMB each year of medical supplies and materials, in part to assist with cardiac surgery and treatments, but the overall purpose was stated as being “to improve the lives of orphans and the lonely elderly”. So far, so good.
据中国官方称，佐治亚州桃树市AGAPE基金会的Ron Brown于2004年底前往武汉，并与中国国内多家慈善组织签署了一份合同，每年提供200万元人民币的医疗用品和物资，部分用于协助心脏手术和治疗，但总的目的是“改善孤儿和孤寡老人的生活”。到目前为止，一切都很好。
Some time after the signing of this agreement, AGAPE shipped its first ‘donation’ of medical devices to Shaoyang City in Hunan. I happened to be in Shanghai at the time and was watching a TV news program which included a segment on this first AGAPE donation of medical supplies, the container being opened in the presence of local medical officials and a TV news crew. The shipment included heart surgery kits, medical outfits, medical gloves, pledgets, adhesive tapes, waste bins, catheters, sutures, syringes, and other accessories. We watched while the Customs Officers and medical staff examined the contents of these containers. What we saw was appalling.
协议签署一段时间后，AGAPE向湖南邵阳市运送了第一批“捐赠”医疗器械。当时我正好在上海，正在看一个电视新闻节目，其中有一个关于AGAPE首次捐赠医疗物资的片段，集装箱在当地医疗官员和电视新闻工作人员的见证下打开。这批货物包括心脏手术包、医疗服、医用手套、纱布、胶带、垃圾箱、导管、缝合线、注射器和其他配件。我们看着海关官员和医务人员检查这些集装箱的内容物。我们所看到的令人震惊。
The donated “medical supplies” had been re-packed in old boxes bearing labels for foodstuffs, electronics, and even Coca Cola and KFC, many of which were soiled by mildew, oil, and dirt stains and emitted strong odors. All of the medicines, drugs, pharmaceuticals, were past (or long past) their safe-use dates. Carton after carton of syringes, bandages, sterile wrappings and similar items were all in packages that had been opened and were no longer sterile.It was easy, even on TV, to see that many of the syringes had been used, then replaced in their packages, and one could see the cockroaches crawling around inside the supposedly-sterile cartons. Catheters that were supposedly to be used for heart surgery, were clearly used, were in non-sterile packaging, and suitable only for discard. The disposable syringes contained a suspicious black fluid and had lost their sterility through exposure to the air, while reagents and disinfectants had leaked, contaminating other items.
捐赠的“医疗用品”被重新包装在旧盒子里，盒子上贴着食品、电子产品，甚至可口可乐和肯德基的标签，其中许多都被霉菌、油污和污垢弄脏，并散发出强烈的气味。所有的药物，药物，药品，都超过了（或早已超过）安全使用日期。一箱又一箱的注射器、绷带、无菌包装和类似物品都装在打开的包装中，不再无菌。即使在电视上，也很容易看到许多注射器被使用过，然后被更换在包装中，人们可以看到蟑螂在所谓的无菌纸箱里爬来爬去。本应用于心脏手术的导管，已明确使用，采用非无菌包装，只适合丢弃。一次性注射器中含有可疑的黑色液体，暴露在空气中失去了无菌性，而试剂和消毒剂泄漏，污染了其他物品。
The shipment contained hundreds of cartons of expired and damaged medical supplies, all clearly used and discarded, many boxes of second-hand medical equipment that also appeared used and damaged. There were as well perhaps 100 cartons of childrens’ medical supplies, all of which had clearly been used and most likely discarded as well. The many wheelchairs in the container were simply thrown into a heap, all clearly broken and unusable, many with broken wheels or no wheels at all. It was all rubbish.
这批货物中有数百箱过期和损坏的医疗用品，都是明显使用和丢弃的，许多箱二手医疗设备似乎也被使用和损坏了。还有大约100箱儿童医疗用品，所有这些显然都被使用过，很可能也被丢弃了。集装箱里的许多轮椅都被扔成了一堆，显然都坏了，无法使用，许多轮椅的轮子坏了，或者根本没有轮子。都是垃圾。
Nevertheless, a bit later, yet another shipment arrived from the Foundation, (with a stated value of several hundred thousand dollars), this time entering Tianjin customs, with the same results. The shipment consisted of almost 1,000 cartons of expired and used disposable medical devices, non-sterile supplies where all the packaging was damaged and contents exposed to contamination, moldy and stained clothing and filthy, used surgical clothing. Customs inspectors found medical pipes that expired in 1998, dirty, mildewed sheets and used surgical gowns stained with blood. Many staff on the scene reported examining children’s and other clothing that was dirty, covered with blood, and otherwise damaged and soiled. It was apparent from watching on TV and was also the consensus of the medical authorities that this clothing was from people who died in accidents and hospitals, with evidence that much of the clothing had been rescued from dumpsters. The entire shipment was garbage. The government closed and locked the containers and returned them to the US. These “charitable donations” were such a shock the UK Guardian covered them in an article, stating, “Thousands of pounds of medical equipment donated to China will be returned to the US because it includes stained bedding, used surgical clothes and expired medical equipment.” The Chinese news media were understated, reporting simply that “three containers of donations sent to charitable organisations in Beijing and the northern provinces of Anhui and Hebei were found to be of “questionable quality” and would be sent back to the US.”
然而，过了一会儿，又有一批货物从基金会运来（据称价值几十万美元），这次进入天津海关，结果也是如此。这批货物包括近1000箱过期和使用过的一次性医疗器械、所有包装都损坏的非无菌用品和暴露在污染中的物品、发霉和染色的衣服以及肮脏的使用过的手术服。海关检查人员发现了1998年过期的医用管道、肮脏发霉的床单和沾有血迹的旧手术服。现场的许多工作人员报告说，他们检查了儿童和其他脏衣服，衣服上沾满了血，还有其他损坏和弄脏的衣服。从电视上看，这件衣服是从事故和医院死亡的人身上拿走的，这也是医疗当局的共识，有证据表明，大部分衣服都是从垃圾箱里救出来的。整批货都是垃圾。政府关闭并锁上了集装箱，并将其退回美国。这些“慈善捐款”令人震惊，英国《卫报》在一篇文章中对其进行了报道，称“捐赠给中国的数千磅医疗设备将被退回美国，因为其中包括脏床单、用过的手术服和过期的医疗设备。”，报道简单地说，“三个寄往北京以及北部省份安徽和河北的慈善组织的捐款容器被发现“质量可疑”，将被送回美国。”
Not to be daunted, another shipment from AGAPE soon appeared in Anhui province, another nearly 1,000 cartons of used and expired medical material with a stated value of $115,000. A short while later, the City Health Bureau of Inner Mongolia received a large shipment of used, damaged and expired supplies, dirty old clothing “and other foreign garbage”. The cartons even contained old quilts covered in what appeared to be blood stains, used and stained gauze rolls and bandages, and filthy boxes that could have contained nothing but infectious bacteria. The shipment was also returned to the US. The Chinese media said, “The real situation of these donations was amazing.” By this time, the shipments contained such serious quality problems that China’s state council issued a warning notice on all shipments of medical supplies from the Foundation. After receipts of the shipments noted below, China’s State Inspection and Quarantine issued a total ban on anything originating from the AGAPE and LDS Foundations, and informed the US Embassy of this fact.
毫不气馁，AGAPE的另一批货物很快出现在安徽省，另外还有近1000箱用过的过期医疗材料，据称价值11.5万美元。不久后，内蒙古市卫生局收到了一大批用过、损坏和过期的用品、脏兮兮的旧衣服和其他洋垃圾。纸箱里甚至有覆盖着血迹的旧被子、用过的、沾过污渍的纱布卷和绷带，以及可能只含有传染性细菌的肮脏盒子。这批捐赠物资也被送回了美国。中国媒体称，“这些捐赠物资的真实情况令人惊叹。”此时，这些捐赠物资存在严重的质量问题，中国国务院对基金会的所有医疗物资发出了警告通知。在收到以下货物后，中国国家检验检疫局发布了全面禁止来自AGAPE和LDS基金会的任何物品的禁令，并将这一事实通知了美国大使馆。
In Wuhan, the Hubei province Inspection and Quarantine Bureau was on the scene with various local medical and charitable personnel, as well as representatives from AGAPE, to welcome a donation of medical supplies which were to consist of cardiac surgery kits, syringes, reagents, wheelchairs, etc. The Foundation stated its donations to Hubei hospital were “to supply its open heart surgery mission” in the region. The beautifully understated Inspection report said, “Field test results were unexpected”. Unexpected, indeed. The entire contents of both shipments, ‘valued’ at several hundred thousand dollars, consisted of used and discarded wheelchairs missing wheels and other major parts, and cartons of expired medications. Another shipment of ‘medical equipment’ contained around 600 cartons in which the medications had all expired by the delivery date, some having expired almost 15 years prior. The balance of the shipment consisted of syringes in damaged packaging that was no longer sterile, others with an unknown dirty liquid, spider webs, mildewed and contaminated supplies, and used medical waste. The Inspection staff quarantined the shipment on the spot and ordered it immediately incinerated.
在武汉，湖北省检验检疫局与当地医疗和慈善人员以及AGAPE的代表在现场欢迎捐赠的医疗用品，包括心脏手术包、注射器、试剂、轮椅等。该基金会表示，其对湖北医院的捐款是为了“履行其在该地区的心脏直视手术使命”。这份轻描淡写的检查报告说：“现场测试结果出乎意料”。确实出乎意料。这两批货物的全部货物“价值”数十万美元，包括用过的和丢弃的轮椅、丢失的轮子和其他主要部件，以及一箱箱过期药品。另一批“医疗设备”包含约600个纸箱，其中药物在交付日期前全部过期，其中一些在近15年前过期。剩余的货物包括包装受损、不再无菌的注射器、其他带有未知脏液体的注射器、蜘蛛网、发霉和受污染的用品以及用过的医疗废物。检查人员当场对这批货物进行了隔离，并下令立即将其焚烧。
A short while later, the American LDS Foundation headquartered in Utah, a charitable arm of the Mormon Church, shipped another container to Wuhan, this one weighing ten tons and ‘valued’ at $360,000 (but valued for their tax deductions at $4 million), that authorities described as “the largest shipment of foreign medical waste in history”. And this was truly medical waste – used and discarded syringes, blood-stained bandages, damaged instruments, and worse. The shipment contained hundreds of cartons of expired medical supplies, used and damaged second-hand medical equipment, old and damaged rehabilitation equipment, used and non-sterile heart surgery kits, used and stained medical outfits, used medical gloves, pledgets, adhesive tapes, old medical waste bins, non-sterile catheters and sutures, and other accessories. Once again, all medications had expired prior to arrival in China, some having reached their expiration dates 15 years prior. The shipment contained not only expired and used supplies, but also used and discarded bedding and clothing that were filthy, much of it blood-stained, the remainder mildewed, torn and faded. Liquids had leaked everywhere, and all supplies were packed in dirty, used boxes which were stained with mildew, oil and other contaminants, making the containers appear to be garbage bins – which they were. Experts at Wuhan Medical University who examined the shipment contents, asserted they were simply a dumping of medical waste. The two loads were incinerated almost immediately after opening. The LDS Foundation claimed to have no knowledge of these events, but declined opportunities for media interviews. Following these American misadventures, the Chinese charities took legal action to sever their contracts with AGAPE, and China’s national government instituted a total ban on all non-factory shipments of medical equipment and supplies from the US and the West, with heavy fines for any violation.
不久后，总部位于犹他州的美国LDS基金会，摩门教的一个慈善机构，向武汉运送了另一个集装箱，这个集装箱重10吨，“价值”36万美元（但扣除了400万美元的税款），当局称其为“历史上最大的外国医疗废物运输”。这是真正的医疗废物——用过的和丢弃的注射器、血迹斑斑的绷带、损坏的仪器，甚至更糟。这批货物中有数百箱过期的医疗用品、用过和损坏的二手医疗设备、旧的和损坏的康复设备、用过的和非无菌的心脏手术包、用过并染色的医疗服、用过医用手套、纱布、胶带、旧的医疗废物箱、非无菌导管和缝合线以及其他配件。再一次，所有药物在抵达中国之前都已过期，有些药物在15年前就已过期。这批货物中不仅有过期和用过的用品，还有用过和丢弃的床上用品和衣服，这些床上用品和衣服很脏，大部分是血迹斑斑的，其余的发霉、撕裂和褪色。液体到处泄漏，所有物资都装在脏兮兮的旧盒子里，盒子上沾着霉菌、油和其他污染物，使容器看起来像是垃圾箱——事实确实如此。武汉医科大学的专家对货物进行了检查，声称这些货物只是倾倒医疗废物。这两批货物几乎在打开后立即被焚烧。LDS基金会声称对这些事件一无所知，但拒绝接受媒体采访。在美国发生这些不幸事件后，中国慈善机构采取了法律行动，终止了与AGAPE的合同，中国国家政府全面禁止从美国和西方非工厂运输医疗设备和用品，并对任何违规行为处以重罚。
After some investigation, medical authorities concluded that AGAPE had scoured the US for medical waste from sources scattered throughout the country, those sources then shipping their medical waste directly to China while AGAPE took the tax deductions for the claimed values. India reported similar issues of not only medical waste but electronic waste that was economically useless, could not be recycled, and was dangerous or expensive to destroy. India estimated at the time more than half of the small-scale waste products in the country had originated in the US and Europe, disposed of by shipping to India as ‘charitable donations’, a major portion of this product being potentially lethal medical waste. It was not only cheaper to ship these categories of garbage to China or India than to deal with them locally, but the Western charities profited hugely from these schemes since they could charge disposal fees to local US firms. In the case of electronic components, these charities could charge an American firm $20 to dispose of a PC or equivalent amount of computer trash, then ship it to a poor country for less than $2, and pocket the difference. A similar case was true for medical waste. In fact, such imports had been banned in China and other nations years earlier, but the huge profits made these collections and shipments too enticing for American charities to resist, resulting in a huge illegal market for the dumping of medical and other hazardous wastes.
经过一番调查，医疗当局得出结论，AGAPE在美国搜索了来自全国各地的医疗废物来源，然后这些来源将其医疗废物直接运往中国，而AGAPE则对索赔价值进行了税收减免。印度报告了类似的问题，不仅是医疗废物，还有电子废物，这些废物在经济上毫无用处，无法回收，而且销毁起来危险或昂贵。印度当时估计，该国一半以上的小规模废物来自美国和欧洲，作为“慈善捐赠”运往印度进行处理，其中大部分是潜在的致命医疗废物。将这些类别的垃圾运往中国或印度不仅比在当地处理更便宜，而且西方慈善机构从这些计划中获利颇丰，因为他们可以向当地的美国公司收取处理费。就电子元件而言，这些慈善机构可以向一家美国公司收取20美元，用于处理一台电脑或同等数量的电脑垃圾，然后以不到2美元的价格将其运到一个贫穷国家，并将差额收入囊中。医疗废物也是如此。事实上，这些进口早在几年前就在中国和其他国家被禁止，但巨额利润使这些收集和运输过于诱人，美国慈善机构无法抗拒，从而为倾倒医疗和其他危险废物创造了巨大的非法市场。
A reporter informed us that AGAPE entered a figure of only $30,000 for the value of its first China “donation”, but claimed an air transport cost of $400,000 – even though the shipments were made by ocean container! AGAPE explained that the apparently low value of the goods in these shipments was due to their being priced “at cost”, and passing into China duty-free. Otherwise, they claimed, the “real” cost would have been many times higher. Then, in a surprising accounting maneuver which I don’t even pretend to understand, Brown claimed that $800,000 of total surgery costs in “Asia” would entail a much lesser expense for materials – perhaps only 10%, with the balance being transportation etc. Then, working backwards, he created an assumed cost for transportation (for the supposed $30,000 value of medical waste) of US$400,000, claiming this amount as a tax credit in keeping with his Foundation’s tax exempt status as a US charitable organisation. This scam was almost certainly done with the active participation, and quite possibly the encouragement, of the US State Department, since many of these so-called charities are primarily political NGOs fronting as something more innocent, many of them, like Bob Fu’s China Aid, having direct and open links to the White House.
一位记者告诉我们，AGAPE在中国的第一笔“捐赠”价值仅为3万美元，但却声称空运费用为40万美元——尽管这些货物是用海运集装箱运送的！AGAPE解释说，这些货物的价值明显较低，是因为它们的价格是“按成本”计算的，而且是免税进入中国的。否则，他们声称，“实际”成本会高出许多倍。然后，在一个我甚至都不假装理解的令人惊讶的会计策略中，布朗声称，在“亚洲”，80万美元的手术总成本将意味着更少的材料费用——可能只有10%，其余的是运输等，根据其基金会作为美国慈善组织的免税地位，要求将这笔款项作为税收抵免。几乎可以肯定的是，这个骗局是在美国国务院的积极参与下完成的，也很可能是在国务院的鼓励下完成的。因为这些所谓的慈善机构中的许多主要是政治非政府组织，他们以更无辜的身份站出来，其中许多机构，比如傅的对华援助组织，与白宫有着直接和公开的联系。
These offensive practices imposed a significant financial burden on the other nations, since most of this hazardous waste was both dangerous and expensive to de-contaminate and destroy locally. The local Chinese charities suffered financially to the extent of millions of dollars by having to absorb port fees on shipments plus all logistics costs, tax and customs clearances, inspections and medications tests, and many other procedures, as well as the heavy costs of either returning the containers to the US or the local destruction of the contents. Even more, the Chinese charities paid the travel expenses of AGAPE and other US charity executives to China, including their airfares and hotel accommodation plus living expenses while in the country, all in anticipation of genuine medical donations. Of course, the Americans know nothing of this, since the US media censor all such stories and neither Google nor Bing seem to yet have discovered it. By contrast, Baidu serves up about 150,000 pages on this topic of AGAPE, the LDS and other American Charities and Foundations. When confronted with this mountain of appalling evidence, Ron Brown, director of the Agape Foundation, stated that “one of the containers had been delayed in shipment”, causing “some supplies to expire”. Brown asserted that local Chinese authorities had destroyed usable supplies along with expired ones, noting that the reasons behind this were “dubious”. When asked why the Chinese would refuse (and incinerate) donations of good medical supplies worth millions of dollars, Brown’s response was to say, “The key is that we reduced paying bribes to them.” Charming.
这些攻击性做法给其他国家带来了巨大的财政负担，因为这些危险废物大多既危险又昂贵，难以在当地消除污染和销毁。当地的中国慈善机构遭受了数百万美元的经济损失，因为它们不得不承担运输的港口费，加上所有物流成本、税务和清关、检查和药物测试以及许多其他程序，以及将集装箱退回美国或在当地销毁集装箱的沉重成本。更重要的是，中国慈善机构支付了AGAPE和其他美国慈善机构高管前往中国的旅费，包括机票和酒店住宿，以及在中国的生活费，所有这些都是为了期待真正的医疗捐赠。当然，美国人对此一无所知，因为美国媒体审查了所有这些故事，谷歌和必应似乎都还没有发现。相比之下，百度在AGAPE、LDS和其他美国慈善机构和基金会的这一主题上提供了大约150000个页面。当面对堆积如山的骇人听闻的证据时，阿加佩基金会主任罗恩·布朗表示，“其中一个集装箱延迟发货”，导致“一些物资过期”。布朗声称，中国地方当局销毁了可用的物资和过期的物资，并指出这背后的原因“令人怀疑”。当被问及为什么中国人会拒绝（并焚烧）价值数百万美元的优质医疗用品捐赠时，布朗的回答是：“关键是我们减少了向他们行贿。”。
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Mr. Romanoff’s writing has been translated into 32 languages and his articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English language platforms. Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney’s new anthology ‘When China Sneezes’. (Chapt. 2 — Dealing with Demons).
罗曼诺夫的作品已被翻译成32种语言，他的文章发表在30多个国家的150多个外语新闻和政治网站以及100多个英语平台上。拉里·罗曼诺夫是一位退休的管理顾问和商人。他曾在国际咨询公司担任高级管理职务，并拥有一家国际进出口公司。他曾是上海复旦大学的客座教授，为EMBA高级课程讲授国际事务案例研究。罗曼诺夫先生住在上海，目前正在写一系列十本与中国和西方有关的书。他是辛西娅·麦金尼新选集《当中国打喷嚏》的特约作者之一。（第二章——对付魔鬼）。
His full archive can be seen at
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