Opening of the Taiwan Healthcare+ Expo

President Tsai Ing-wen attended the opening ceremony of the 2018 Taiwan Healthcare+ Expo on the morning of November 29. In her remarks, the president emphasized Taiwan's incomparable advantages: exceptional healthcare technologies, complete tech industry supply chains, and outstanding biotech and pharmaceutical industry capabilities. She hopes Taiwan's healthcare sector will tap into international cooperation networks to create endless possibilities for Taiwan's next-generation healthcare technology industries.

President Tsai began her remarks by noting that we invited our biotechnology and healthcare partners from around the world to Taiwan for the first Healthcare+ Expo last year, and were now honored to have the opportunity to gather here once again with our international business partners and healthcare industry leaders. On behalf of the entire country, she then extended a warm welcome to one and all.

The president went on to state that Taiwan is the best place to develop the healthcare technology industries, as we have three incomparable advantages.

First, Taiwan has exceptional healthcare technologies. We excel in a number of healthcare specialties, many of which rank among the best in the world. We lead the world in the number of cases, and survival rates, for electrical cardioversion technologies, advanced reconstructive surgery, and reconstructive microsurgery.

President Tsai emphasized that Taiwan's medical capabilities are cited in international healthcare textbooks, and have even established new global treatment standards. Many of our medical institutions are also major training hubs for medical personnel from all over the world, she said, and in the future, Taiwan's top healthcare teams will be important engines for the development of the medical and health and wellness industries.

Highlighting Taiwan's second advantage, the president said that Taiwan boasts complete tech industry supply chains. From integrated circuit design and semiconductors to ICT products, our IT and electronics sectors have for decades been global leaders in applying cutting-edge technology, and these companies have now become major forces of innovation in medicine and healthcare.

Taiwan's outstanding biotech and pharmaceutical industry capabilities are our third advantage, she said. We have world-class development and production capabilities for new pharmaceuticals, and many newly-developed drugs have received US FDA approval to treat conditions like HIV/AIDS, kidney disease, and pancreatic cancer.

She then noted that Taiwan's medical device industry is also a leader in Asia. Taiwan is the number one exporter of electric wheelchairs in the world, and the second largest exporter of artificial joints in Asia. These numbers, she said, speak to our world-leading biotech development and manufacturing capabilities.

The president said that the 2018 Healthcare+ Expo is an important event, a collective effort by Taiwan's healthcare sector that integrates our industrial, government, and academic capabilities, and that this is the power of a united Taiwan. We therefore hope that our friends from around the world will see Taiwan's strengths in healthcare technologies, and that this event will generate opportunities to tap into international cooperation networks to create endless possibilities for Taiwan's next-generation healthcare technology industries. The president closed her remarks by wishing everyone a successful and rewarding expo and conference.

Following her remarks, the president and visitors took part in the opening ceremony, and then visited booths on the exhibition floor.