China plans to open about 20 Traditional Chinese Medicine collaboration centers overseasthis year, according to a senior TCM official.
The aim is to open the centers in countries and regions covered by China's Belt and RoadInitiative to enable the medical science to benefit more people, the official said.
Wang Xiaopin, director of the International Cooperation Department at the StateAdministration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, made the remarks in an interview with ChinaDaily.
To date, TCM has been promoted in more than 180 countries and regions and the Chinesegovernment has signed high-level cooperation memorandums with 83 countries, Wang said.
A great number of these countries fall under the Belt and Road Initiative, a vision PresidentXi Jinping put forward in 2013 to boost interconnectivity and common development along theancient land and maritime Silk Roads.
"The centers will better meet local demand for TCM services and products among the publicand also help with to promote TCM abroad," she said.
To finance the initiative, the central government launched a special fund last year withprimary investment of 20 million yuan ($3 million).
Wang stressed that the fund is not a charity program.
She said the centers will be based on the various needs for TCM in differentcountries and will require local partners.
These partners could include hospitals, research institutions and the overseaspharmaceutical industry. "It all depends on the demands and various practicalsituations in these countries, including the legal status of TCM," she said.
About 300,000 Chinese TCM practitioners are working worldwide, according tothe administration. The international market for TCM products and services is valued at $50billion.
More than 10,000 foreigners arrive in China each year to learn TCM. Beijing, Shanghai andGuangdong province are their top destinations.
Gao Sihua, former president of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said the universityhas held many short-term TCM training courses for foreigners. "They are mostly interested intechniques such as acupuncture and massage," he said.
Gao also said that China still lacks professionals with a good command of both TCM andEnglish.
Wang said that apart from seed funding, "we will also help to send qualified TCM workers tothe new centers."
The administration has supported other initiatives to promote TCM overseas, such asConfucius Institutes run mainly by the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as aForeign Language, also known as Hanban.
shanjuan@chinadaily.com.cn
