Li Bin, minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), met with Madeleine K. Albright, former American secretary of state on December 17. Both sides exchanged ideas about strengthening Sino-American cooperation in the medicine and health sectors.

Li introduced the ideas of China’s deepening medicine and health reform and the importance of its work. She said that pushing forward healthcare reform is an important part of deepening reform in an all-around way. The Chinese government considers the basic healthcare system a public good for all people, trying to solve the problems of healthcare reform in a Chinese way, including pushing forward the construction of a national healthcare insurance system, public hospital reform, improving the grading diagnosis model and speeding up the construction of a hospital funded by social capital.

Li said that the health sector has been a part of Sino-American cultural exchanges this year. China is willing to push forward the two nations’ exchange and cooperation in the health sector, which will benefit the mutual understanding of both countries and make contributions to Sino-American relations. China welcomes American enterprises to do business in China on the premise that they abide by Chinese law.

Albright praised China’s achievements in healthcare reform. She said that America is willing to cooperate with China in healthcare reform, biological medicine, medical instruments, and maternal and infant health, making its contribution in pushing forward China’s healthcare reform and improving health conditions in China.

People in charge of the NHFPC’s Department of Healthcare Reform and Department of International Cooperation, as well as the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs, attended the meeting.