On Saturday, we republished Wesley J. Smith’s comments on Chinese leader Xi Jin-Ping, 72, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, also 72, discussing how organ transplants could help people stay young:

Microphone picked up conversation between Putin and Xi at the Beijing parade.

Xi: “People rarely lived past 70 before. Now at 70 you’re still a child.”

Putin: “With biotech, organs can be replaced endlessly… people could even reach immortality.”

Xi: “Some predict people might live to 150 this century.”

Polymarket Intel, September 3, 2025

The occasion was a military parade in Beijing, attended by Xi, Putin, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (who is only 42 years old).

Kill! order issued for video

The video has now been pulled from the Reuter’s news agency on China’s demand:

Sept 5 (Reuters) – Reuters News on Friday withdrew a four-minute video containing an exchange between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussing the possibility that humans can live to 150 years old, after China state TV demanded its removal and withdrew the legal permission to use it. 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 China state television network, China Central Television (CCTV).

“Reuters withdraws Xi, Putin longevity video after China state TV pulls legal permission to use it,” September 5, 2025

The news agency has issued a kill order to its more than more than 1,000 global media clients. However, as of 8 September 2025, 8:22 PST for example, Associated Press’s account of the conversation was still available at YouTube:

Sources that still show the video may have embedded it as well.

Here is Reuters’s story. It transcribes key passages from the video, adding “This Sept 3 story has been corrected to withdraw videos, with no changes to text” and following up with:

Putin confirmed later that he and Xi had discussed the subject on Wednesday.

“I think when we went to the parade, the chairman talked about it,” Putin told reporters in Beijing when asked about the leaked conversation.

“Modern means of health improvement, medical means, even surgical ones related to organ replacement, they allow humanity to hope that active life will continue differently than it does today,” he said.

“Hot mic picks up Putin and Xi discussing organ transplants and immortality,”September 5, 2025

Why is China so sensitive on this topic?

Russia’s strongman Putin didn’t seem to care much about what he was heard to say about organ transplants. But China is known to harvest transplant organs from political prisoners, including pacifist Falun Gong practitioners.

Thus, in his comments on the exchange here, Wesley Smith had concluded, “It wouldn’t surprise me if Xi has a political prisoner all tissue-typed and ready to be sliced and diced should the need arise.”

People closer to the scene can confirm the basis for Smith’s suspicions. Epoch Times, published by Falun Gong adherents, offers,

According to the London-based China Tribunal, forced organ harvesting has taken place in China for years “on a significant scale,” and practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual group are the primary victims. It stated that persecuted religious minorities, including Uyghurs, are also potential targets. Since 1999, millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been incarcerated in prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured and untold numbers persecuted to death, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center. The International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC), an Australian advocacy organization comprising lawyers, medical professionals, researchers, and human rights advocates, stated that it was not surprised by CCTV’s demand, considering that organ transplants in China “are linked to crimes against humanity.”

Eva Fu, Frank Fang, “Censorship Concerns Raised After Chinese State Media Pulls Video of Xi–Putin Organ Transplant Discussion,” September 8, 2025

And from NBC News:

“China forcefully harvests organs from detainees, tribunal concludes”

China’s organ transplant trade is worth $1 billion a year, according to a tribunal. This story contains details some may find distressing.”

LONDON — The organs of members of marginalized groups detained in Chinese prison camps are being forcefully harvested — sometimes when patients are still alive, an international tribunal sitting in London has concluded. Saphora Smith, June 18, 2019

So after the conversation hit the fan in freer societies, it blew up in Xi’s face.

Is there is a moral to this story? How about: Honest media can’t be half free. They can only be free. If a story is honestly reported, government must get used to it. For one thing, someone somewhere will have embedded the video.

The bigger issue…

But the bigger issue is this: When dictators adopt transhumanism, it won’t just be Ray Kurzweil trying to upload himself to digital immortality. There will be a very dark side.