Bioethics: Perspectives from China
- Bioethics:Perspectives from China
I am glad to see the publication of six articles submitted by Chinese colleagues in this issue of the Asian Bioethics Review. Most of these articles came from papers submitted by authors to domestic or international conferences. These include Hu Lin-Ying’s “Reconsidering the Danger Criterion in China’s Mental Health Law: From an Ethical Perspective” which she presented at the 1st National Conference on Ethical and Legal Issues in Psychiatry in Beijing, 2013; Liu Ran’s “Ethical Enquiry into the Conditions under which Involuntary Commitment Can be Ethically Justified”; and Huang Wen’s “Ethical Challenges to Punitive Policy on Drug Users in China”, previously submitted to the International Conference on Clinical Research, Public Health and Global Justice in Bergen in 2013. Zhai Xiaomei’s “Can the No Fault Approach to Compensation for HIV Infection through Blood Transfusion be Ethically Justified?” was written with reference to the recommendations drafted by a task force devoted to improving human rights in HIV/AIDS. Zhu Wei’s “The Tort Law of P.R. China and the Implementation of Informed Consent” and my “Ethical Issues in the Medical Security System in Mainland China” are the results of our painstaking reflections over many years, and the topics in these two articles have been widely discussed at many domestic meetings and in many publications.
Although the topics of these articles are varied, they may clearly demonstrate a major approach to bioethics in mainland China. The features of this approach may summarised as: (1) starting from an ethical issue which is closely relevant to the health, well-being, or basic human rights of a certain social group or whole population; (2) challenging the inadequacies or drawbacks of existing laws, regulations or policies related to the issues; and (3) producing useful recommendations on law or policy reform on the basis of ethical enquiry or reflection with argumentation and justification. I hope that this approach would become the paradigm of China’s Bioethics. I would like to use the platform of the Asian Bioethics Review to exchange opinions with Asian colleagues and with colleagues from other countries to promote responsible research in the area of bioethics. [End Page 107]
Qiu Renzong is Emeritus Professor in the Institute of Philosophy; Honorary Director in the Centre for Applied Ethics, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Professor and Chair of the Academic Committee, in the Center for Bioethics, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, at Peking Union Medical College; Vice-President of the Ethics Committee, MOH; and member of the UNAIDS Reference Group on AIDS and Human Rights. Dr. Qiu was awarded laureates at the 2002 World Network of Technology Awards Ethics; the 2009 UNESCO Avicenna Prize of Ethics of Science; and the 2011 Henry Knowles Beecher Award. He has published 25 books and more than 400 articles in China and internationally.
