China’s Voice at WTO: Dr. John K. Hsiang of Jiahui Health — China’s Inbound Medical Tourism Enters Rapid‑Growth Era, Shanghai Building an International Hub for Open Medical Services
Geneva, Switzerland, September 16 — At the WTO 2026 Public Forum themed Wellness without borders, the session focused on “Medical Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges”. As the sole representative from a Chinese medical institution at this forum, Dr. John K. Hsiang, Chairman of the Executive Management Committee of Jiahui Health, was invited to brief delegates from various countries and international organizations on China’s practical outcomes and strategic vision for international healthcare and inbound medical tourism in recent years. Active participation in global rule‑making for trade in services stands as one of China’s key priorities at the WTO in 2026. Dr. Hsiang’s presentation represents concrete efforts by Chinese healthcare providers in this regard, delivering systematic experience‑sharing on this topic from Chinese medical institutions at the WTO this year.
At the forum, Dr. Hsiang noted that China’s inbound medical tourism has entered a high‑growth phase. Citing statistics, he pointed out that key foreign‑oriented hospitals across China received 1.28 million international patients in 2025, a 73.6 % rise from three years prior; among them, 413 000 travelled specifically to China for medical treatment, marking a 63 % year‑on‑year increase. At Jiahui International Hospital alone, overseas patient inquiries nearly doubled in H1 2026 compared with the same period last year. From an economic perspective, every RMB 100 million of direct revenue generated by medical tourism can drive an additional RMB 230 million output across related industries. In 2025, China’s total exports of travel services reached RMB 393.98 billion, up 49.5 % year‑on‑year, with medical tourism emerging as a new growth driver.
Dr. Hsiang emphasized these achievements stem from top‑level national policy design, visa facilitation reforms and surging domestic pharmaceutical innovation capacity. In March 2026, nine Chinese government departments jointly released 16 special measures to support inbound health consumption and the development of international medical‑tourism clusters. Citizens from 57 countries can now enjoy 240‑hour visa‑free transit access at 65 port cities across China. China accounts for 33.7 % of global new‑drug R&D pipelines, and 76 innovative medicines were approved in 2025, hitting an all‑time high. In June 2026, the world’s first CAR‑T therapy for solid tumors gained regulatory approval in China, quickly drawing international patients seeking treatment.
On September 2, 2026, media coverage told the story of a New Zealand patient with advanced cancer who travelled to China for care. Benefiting from visa‑exemption policies, he flew to Shanghai shortly after the novel therapy’s approval, received the world‑first solid‑tumor CAR‑T treatment at Jiahui International Cancer Center, and was successfully discharged on August 16 as the first overseas patient treated with this therapy. In another case, an American patient with non‑small‑cell lung cancer, referred by physicians from MD Anderson Cancer Center, came to Jiahui to receive Ivosidumab, a bispecific antibody innovative drug only available in China.
When presenting these two patient stories, Dr. Hsiang stated that Jiahui International Hospital’s practice is not merely an institutional exploration, but a real‑world example of Shanghai building itself into an international medical‑tourism destination, and an epitome of Shanghai as China’s open gateway for trade in services advancing “global‑bound health services”. As one of Shanghai’s first pilot institutions for international medical tourism, Jiahui recorded over 100 000 international outpatient visits in 2025, ranking top in Shanghai for multiple consecutive years, with particularly robust patient growth from Belt‑and‑Road countries, BRICS nations and the Middle East. Evolving beyond a standalone hospital, Jiahui is developing into an open platform integrating upstream‑downstream industry partners, academic research and multicultural services, acting as a bridge connecting Chinese medical innovations to patients worldwide.
Rooted in Shanghai and serving global populations, Shanghai‑based international medical service providers represented by Jiahui have accumulated institutional experience covering cross‑border medical collaboration, international insurance direct billing and tele‑consultation. These serve as critical references for standard‑setting of international medical services across Shanghai and the whole country. Leveraging open platforms including free‑trade zones, the China International Import Expo and the Oriental Hub, Shanghai is accelerating the development of an internationally‑aligned medical‑tourism system and expanding the global reach of its healthcare services.
Looking ahead, Dr. Hsiang acknowledged practical obstacles facing inbound medical tourism, including the absence of specialized medical‑visa categories and limited global access to reliable patient information. He called on the WTO to play a more active role in establishing international standards for medical visas, building a global information network for medical innovations, and facilitating regulatory dialogues on cross‑border medical data and telemedicine. He noted that China is drawing lessons from medical‑visa systems in countries such as Thailand, with relevant proposals submitted at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in March 2026, signalling promising policy prospects.
Delegates reached consensus at the forum: healthcare institutions of diverse systems should combine strengths to advance global public health. Collaboration between policymakers, pharmaceutical firms, hospitals and charitable organizations enables broader access to life‑saving therapies. This aligns with China’s on‑the‑ground experience. Within Shanghai’s international medical‑tourism pilot framework, private international facilities such as Jiahui work alongside public hospitals, complementing each other in multi‑disciplinary consultation, early access to innovative devices and drugs, and cross‑border cooperation — a tangible demonstration of multi‑stakeholder collaboration.
Participants agreed that China’s experience in innovative‑drug approval, visa facilitation and systematic international healthcare delivery offers valuable Eastern reference points for building global trade‑in‑services rules for medical tourism. China will actively engage in rule‑making to foster an open, inclusive and accessible global healthcare ecosystem.
“Medical tourism sits at the intersection of healthcare, trade and economic development. Over the next three to five years, China’s inbound medical tourism will experience rapid expansion. China is confident and capable of becoming a leading global medical‑tourism destination,” Dr. Hsiang concluded. High‑calibre clinical practices in Shanghai and across China, innovative medicines and devices, seasoned clinicians and well‑run hospital systems provide a practical foundation for high‑quality scaling of this new form of trade in services, as well as for China’s participation in global health‑service rule‑setting. China stands ready to share its experience with the world, crossing boundaries of trade and health to benefit patients and families everywhere and realise the vision of Wellness without borders.
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