Thailand to become Centre of Traditional Chinese Medicine in ASEAN

BANGKOK, June 20 (TNA) - China backs Thailand to become a centre of legalised Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practices, the first hub of its kind in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Given the support from China's Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, relevant training programmes on TCM have been launched in Thailand, with TCM specialists flying from China to provide the training on treatment and prevention of infertility, diabetes, skin and intestinal diseases as well as other health problems for some 200 trainees in Thailand and other ASEAN member countries. Speaking at a seminar in Bangkok on Tuesday, Professor Fanrong Liang, Vice President of Chengdu University of TCM, acknowledged that TCM has drawn great attentions from ASEAN member states due to its special characteristics which have been clinically proven to effectively cure certain diseases. With the region’s comparative advantage on enriched biodiversity, together with modern technologies, Liang is optimistic that TCM will likely become even more popular among ASEAN citizens in the near future and, on behalf of Chengdu University, all TCM specialists stand ready to provide consultants for further educational cooperation with Thailand to achieve the goal. Under China-ASEAN Socio-Cultural Cooperation, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has organised training programmes on TCM for ASEAN trainees, most of them are Thais so far. With the TCM as an alternative choice of medical services for ASEAN citizens, Thailand is believed to earn more lucrative national income, as the ASEAN Single Community with the liberalization of all areas is scheduled to be formed by 2015. (TNA)