Ex-Hong Kong leader’s Chinese medicine platform to link mainland and global markets

Former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying has launched a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) trading platform aimed at connecting mainland Chinese manufacturers with international markets by leveraging the city’s testing and certification systems.Leung, also vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said on Thursday that the platform, an independent third party, aimed to promote the centralisation, standardisation, marketisation and transparency of trade.“We believe that only with good medicinal materials can there be good TCM practitioners and good proprietary medicines; only with a good market can good materials be purchased efficiently and reliably,” he said as he launched the platform in Nansha, a city in Guangdong province.“Therefore, we must build a trading platform that guarantees quality, centralises buyers and sellers, provides high trading efficiency, offers accurate, timely, transparent and comprehensive supply and price information, and reduces the time cost of transactions.”The launch ceremony was held concurrently in Nansha and Hong Kong and was attended by more than 450 representatives of TCM manufacturers, distributors and local governments.The platform was established under the TCM All-sector Hong Kong Centre, an NGO founded by Leung in 2022, to leverage the city’s unique position and strengths in aligning with the national strategy of promoting the high-quality development of the field.