China teams with Japan, South Korea to boost healthcare industry

Guilin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region hosted the 2019 China-Japan-South Korea Industry Forum on May 23, which was attended by more than 350 representatives from the healthcare industry in China, Japan, and South Korea.

Jointly sponsored by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the People's Government of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the forum had the theme of "Invest in the healthcare industry and share development opportunities," and featured a series of activities, including professional seminars and investment project promotions.

In recent years, the accelerating aging of the population has been a common problem for most countries. China, Japan, and South Korea should work together to promote the healthcare industry, driving it to be a new highlight of the tripartite cooperation for the three countries, according to Zhang Shenfeng, vice-chairman of the CCPIT.

Zhang added that China, Japan, and South Korea are expected to team up to establish a new cooperative mode to complement each other with different strengths and attributes, injecting a new impetus into the healthcare industry with the aim of promoting the sustained and healthy development of regional economic and social development of the three countries. 

Han Mei, deputy secretary general of the China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, said that the trilateral cooperation began in 1999. It has since made significant achievements in various fields, covering politics, economics, society, culture, healthcare, education, technology, and environment protection over 20 years of development.

According to Han, the three countries have strong complementary relationship and a broad space for cooperation in healthcare, old-age care, and the health tourism industry. They will strengthen exchanges and cooperation to achieve mutually beneficial development, leading to a win-win situation for the three countries. 

China issued the blueprint for health care development, "Healthy China 2030," in 2016, in which it is expected that China's big health industry will generate an output value of 16 trillion yuan ($2.32 trillion) by 2030, becoming a new growth engine for China's economic development.

Guangxi has attached great importance to its healthcare industry. The region initiated a three-year (2017-19) action plan to speed up the development of the healthcare industry. It is expected that by 2020, the total scale of Guangxi's healthcare industry will be around 400 billion yuan.