China News Service Nanchang, December 12 (Reporter Wu Pengquan) As an important international business card and health messenger, traditional Chinese medicine has made remarkable progress in going global, and its international recognition and influence continue to increase, but it is still facing problems such as cultural differences, role positioning, market access, and legal protection, and needs to seek breakthroughs.
From November 11 to December 29, the 12 Shanghai Cooperation Organization Traditional Medicine Forum was held in Jiangxi, where many guests discussed the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine and helped accelerate the "going global" of traditional Chinese medicine.
"Traditional Chinese medicine products have been registered and used in many countries, and the total import and export value of Chinese herbal medicines and decoction pieces has increased from US$2013 million in 4 to US$48.2022 billion in 11." Huang Luqi, Deputy Director General of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, President of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that traditional Chinese medicine has become an important area of cooperation between China and ASEAN, the European Union, the African Union, CELAC, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS and other regions and mechanisms.
According to public data, at present, traditional Chinese medicine has spread to 196 countries and regions, 50 cooperation agreements on traditional Chinese medicine have been signed between governments, 16 free trade agreements have been included in traditional Chinese medicine, 30 overseas centers of traditional Chinese medicine have been built, 75 international cooperation bases for traditional Chinese medicine, and 31 export bases for traditional Chinese medicine services.
Although the international attention and acceptance of traditional Chinese medicine are increasing, there are still many practical difficulties in promoting the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine due to differences in cultural backgrounds and theoretical systems.
"No proprietary Chinese medicine has yet entered the international mainstream pharmaceutical market in the form of medicines." Xiao Wei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chairman of Jiangsu Kangyuan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., pointed out that Chinese patent medicine is facing the severe challenge of low recognition in the mainstream market, and the complex system of traditional Chinese medicine is the key problem behind the challenge. The complex system restricts the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine, and it is necessary to solve the clinical recognition criteria of the international medical community.
Only by breaking through the standard barriers and becoming an international "common language" can traditional Chinese medicine better "go global". In this regard, China has promoted the establishment of the Technical Committee on Traditional Chinese Medicine (ISO/TC249) by the International Organization for Standardization, and has formulated and published 98 international standards for traditional Chinese medicine.
Wang Yitao, Director of the Macao Research and Development Center of Chinese Medicine, said that he hoped that Chinese medicine-related enterprises, scientific research units, industry associations and societies, social organizations and other organizations would deepen mutually beneficial and friendly cooperation with their counterparts at home and abroad, work together to build an industrial innovation and development alliance, and promote Chinese medicine to the world by establishing a platform for the inheritance and innovation of Chinese medicine and formulating a series of international standards for Chinese medicine.
Deepening overseas knowledge and understanding of Chinese medicine is crucial to the internationalization of Chinese medicine. In the view of Zhu Weifeng, president of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, from the perspective of the school, it is necessary to actively promote the scientific research and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine, interpret the principles of traditional Chinese medicine with modern science, and promote the combination and promotion of traditional Chinese medicine and modern science, so that more foreign friends can recognize and accept traditional Chinese medicine.
Li Hongjian, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Chongqing Taiji Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd., also believes that it is necessary to build an international communication platform for traditional Chinese medicine culture, tell the story of traditional Chinese medicine in the world language, and let more overseas people understand and recognize traditional Chinese medicine with more accurate curative effects through the method of "bringing medicine with medicine". And use digital means to help traditional Chinese medicine "go overseas", make good use of global medicinal resources, improve the level of R&D and manufacturing of traditional medicines, build a global marketing platform, and form an industrial closed loop of internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine.
The 72nd World Health Assembly deliberated and adopted the International Classification of Diseases, Revision 11 (ICD-<>), which included the chapter on traditional medicine with traditional Chinese medicine as the main body for the first time, and Chinese medicine has historically entered the world's mainstream medical system.
Yu Yanhong, director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China, suggested that the policies and experiences of governments in the development of traditional medicine should be shared, intergovernmental dialogue and inter-agency cooperation should be strengthened, and exchanges on the formulation of regulations, policies and plans should be deepened in promoting the inheritance, innovation and development of traditional medicine. (ENDS)