Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies e-Bulletin Issue 10

Funded by the Public Policy Research Scheme of the HKSAR Government, in August 2022 the HKIAPS completed a research report entitled “The Innovative Combination of Hong Kong’s Brand Strength and the Mainland’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology in Developing the Greater Bay Area (GBA) as a Centre of High-quality Proprietary Chinese Medicine”. When conducting interviews for this project, representatives of the Chinese medicine industry shared their viewpoints on various topics, including on how to expand the GBA market and to advocate for regional cooperation among Hong Kong and other cities in the GBA. The Policy Forum was held to promote in-depth exchanges on this topic.

We were honoured to have the Secretary for Health, Prof. Chung-mau Lo, deliver the keynote speech. The Policy Forum consisted of three sessions: A research report presentation session, a panelist session, and a roundtable discussion session. We were joined by eight policymakers, representatives of the Chinese medicine industry, and scholars.

Prof. Lo illustrated the government’s policies in promoting the development of the Chinese medicine industry in recent years. For example, strengthening out-patient services for Chinese medicine, promoting collaboration between Chinese and Western hospitalization services, establishing a Chinese medicine hospital and the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute, establishing the post of the Commissioner for Chinese Medicine Development, and setting up the Chinese Medicine Development Fund. Prof. Lo stated that the government will continue to support the development of Chinese Medicine as part of Hong Kong’s healthcare system.

Dr Victor Zheng presented a research report on behalf of the team. The report analysed the challenges faced by Hong Kong’s Chinese medicine industry and investigated how Hong Kong and other cities in the GBA could complement each other’s strengths and jointly develop the Chinese medicine industry using a brand-led development approach. Some policy recommendations received positive feedback from the Government.

In the panelist and roundtable discussion session, eight speakers shared individual viewpoints. Dr Simon Lee stated that Hong Kong could make good use of its advantages of internationalization and create an efficient and credible international trading platform for Chinese herbal medicines; Mr Harry Yeung discussed how the modernized Chinese Medicine International Association can facilitate the development of Chinese medicine; Mr Tony Siu raised concerns regarding the insufficient support from the Government for Chinese medicine professionals; Mr Brian Law mentioned several factors hindering the development of Chinese medicine; Dr Ben Fong suggested that the Chinese and Western medicine industries be integrated to stimulate the development of the Chinese medicine industry; Mr Chi-hung Kong explained the difficulties of establishing unified specifications and obtaining accreditation in the Chinese medicine industry; Dr Alex Fong proposed an open information platform on Chinese herbs as being vital to promote the industry; and Prof. Annie Tam provided advice from the viewpoint of a former government official on how various stakeholders can advocate policies more effectively.

About 150 participants attended the forum online.■