U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  HHS.gov  Secretary Mike Leavitt's Blog

China

China - Blog IV

Thursday night I was scheduled to have dinner with my friend Gao Qiang, who until last year was China’s Minister of Health. He no longer has day-to-day management responsibility but continues to have significant involvement in health policy. He called to say he had meetings related to the earthquake so he needed to cancel our plans. I completely understood.

We were able to get together for a brief visit on Friday morning. He had only had two hours sleep the previous three nights. He said the entire government was focused on the rescue effort.

I was also able to spend time with Wan Gang, Minister of Science and Technology. We had met at the Third Strategic Economic Dialog last December but this was our first opportunity to spend time getting acquainted. We reviewed the existing relationship between HHS and the Ministry and laid out some areas where we have additional common interests.

During the middle of the day, I took a short break to attend a program at an International School on Internet Safety for Children. My wife Jackie volunteers full time for the ikeepsafe Foundation. The foundation has developed a book about internet safety using an Olympic Game theme and the book launch was held at the school. One of their sponsors has arranged to place several thousand copies of the book in schools.

The afternoon was spent in more meetings with government officials. I spent a productive hour with Minister Li and his Deputy Minister Wei. They reviewed with me plans they have to ensure food safety for the Olympics. It was rather extraordinarily detailed and well coordinated. The essence of the plan is if you touch any food during the Olympics as a restaurant, supplier, or processor, or transporter then you have to register and agree to certain standards. They have developed a tracking system that is the most elaborate thing I have ever seen. I can’t recount every component of the system but it includes GPS tracking of every truck carrying food, traceability of ingredients and an incident reporting system. I told Minister Li that if he could pull half of it off, his organization should be given a gold medal in food safety.

We also spoke at length about the progress on the implementation of our Memorandum of Agreement on food safety. We are making steady progress.

After our meeting, my good friend Vice Minister Wei arranged for us to see the Olympic park. What a treat that was. We went to a building where they display scale models of each venue. It was well presented. We then drove to several parts of the park so we could see the venues from close range. They are spectacular. The visit rekindled many of my Olympic feelings from 2002 when my home state of Utah hosted the Winter Olympic Games.

China will be stretched to manage the final preparations for the games and the earthquake recovery at the same time. It brought back memories of our Olympic preparations. The Olympics were only a few months after 9/11 hit. Suddenly the nature of the 2001 games changed. We would become the first major world gathering after the attack. Many were concerned that terrorists would use the Olympics as a target. We beefed up our security arrangements considerably during the final three months.

I rushed back to the Embassy to do a news conference. Regrettably, I was caught in Beijing traffic, which is simply unbelievable. I was about a half an hour late and that always makes me uncomfortable. The journalists were patient and seemed to understand the traffic problem. Most of their questions focused on import safety issues. There were 18 reporters there.

My final meeting of the day was dinner at Ambassador Sandy Randt’s home for members of my delegation. It was a terrific evening. Ambassador Randt has lived in the region for much of his professional career. He and his wife Sarah have been in China several times, starting in the 1970s. He also lived in Hong Kong for many years, speaks the language and is a terrific relationship builder. He is remarkably able and likeable; all good qualities for an Ambassador.

Our dinner conversation focused on China’s place in the next quarter century and a comparison of the unique challenges our respective countries face to maintain our economic momentum. We talked about the challenge of entitlement spending in the United States and the various disparities China will need to manage. It was an interesting conversation.

The best part of the evening was a conversation we had about music that we grew up with. Each of us named songs that took us emotionally back to our adolescence and the associated memories. My song was Strawberry Fields Forever, by the Beatles. It reminded me of sitting at a small drive-in on the outskirts of Loa, Utah where our ranch is located. I would go there on summer evenings to order food and play songs from the Juke box.

We all shared great memories. It was a terrific way to get to know each other.

Shanghai, China - Blog III

Traditional Chinese Medicine

I had planned to be with Minister Chen at a medical college where they teach Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). I have written before about my interest in this subject. I brought Dr. Josephine Briggs, who heads the Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Our purpose is to stimulate some scientific cooperation on how Western medicine can be informed by TCM.

We visited a large new hospital about an hour outside the Shanghai city center. It had 750 beds and is connected to the Medical School. We visited three departments at the hospital: the pharmacy, a general ward and the acupuncture center. At the acupuncture center, the management of the hospital had very cleverly identified some of the patients with Utah ties, people who had lived there during the time I was Governor. We walked through three small rooms and observed the treatment of a dozen patients for things ranging from knee problems and bells palsy, to infertility.

Afterward, we gathered in a conference room to ask questions of the medical staff. I find it rather easy to grasp the portions of TCM related to medicine. They use naturally grown plants in combination to produce a therapeutic result. The components obviously have active ingredients that have some impact on the human body. Over the years they have developed patterns of what works in various situations. Diagnosis is done through a form of observation and intuition.

TCM deals with concepts that are thousands of years old, and involves assessment of more than physical well being. It strives to find balance within the various systems of the body. I don't understand all of it, but I think it is important to respect that their approach is different than ours, and to acknowledge there may be a lot we can learn. In medicine, it is important to understand why something works. It appears to me in TCM, it is only necessary to believe something works. What I hope we can do more of, is applying scientific methods to understand why Chinese methods work. Blending knowledge from the two should be our goal. We are working on a Memorandum of Understanding to do just that.

I will admit that what I learned about acupuncture-aided surgery went over the top for me. They do major surgery with the patient awake and alert using acupuncture instead of anesthetics. I didn't see an actual surgery, but they had clips of video.

The difference between TCM and Western medicine typifies the challenge of working cooperatively with the Chinese; two different philosophies and two different systems. Neither should attempt to change the other, but rather to make our systems interoperable.

I spent about an hour at a TCM museum, which was helpful in understanding the history and philosophies. I found it helpful to see the development throughout a few thousand years. They also had a group of students who talked about the teaching techniques used in training TCM doctors. It is critical to remember this is a method of treatment hundreds of millions of Chinese prefer. They don't trust Western medical techniques.

Secretary Leavitt tours a Traditional Chinese Medicine Museum in Shanghai
Secretary Leavitt tours a Traditional Chinese Medicine Museum in Shanghai

Diplomacy Speech

The most pleasant part of the day for me was a diplomacy speech I did at the medical school with 300 students. My goal in the hour we had together was to make friends with them. I told them about me and my family. Then I told them about my job. After that, I let them just ask questions about anything. It was great fun. They asked me about TCM in the U.S. We talked about the Olympic Games. I told them stories about when my state hosted the games. We discussed health costs in the U.S. I was very candid about my concerns. They asked me for advice on how to succeed in life. I gave them some thoughts about goal setting.

I concluded my talk with the students by talking about why I meet with students like them. It is to plant seeds of relationship between our countries to help each of them know us better and for us to understand them. The students responded well, and we talked for an hour, but it could have gone much longer.

A Personal Curiosity

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to see an animal display at the convention center. My interest was stimulated because a friend of mine, Ken Bearing, donated all the taxidermy. It is a spectacular display of African animals including an elephant, a 20 foot man-eating gator, a hippo and many others. It is displayed in a spectacular way. They have had over a million visitors since it opened a year ago.

On to Beijing

Tomorrow, it’s a speech to the American business community and then on to Beijing for meetings with various government officials.

Shanghai, China Blog II

No matter the culture, people get themselves messed up on drugs. Yesterday in Shanghai, I visited a methadone clinic in Xi portion of the city. That apparently means "west side." It's the older part of the city. I've visited similar clinics around the world, so the physical layout and process wasn't a surprise. However, I was able to talk with a couple of the patients at some length.

They are now serving about 175 addicts. Each day, they come to the clinic, check in, (often taking a urine test to demonstrate they have kept their commitments), pay the dollar co-payment they make, and then proceed to a counter where they are given a green liquid drink in an 8 ounce plastic cup. They gulp it down, followed by a water chaser. It appears to be a ritual they follow each morning.

A male patient, who I estimate was 30 years old and whose Chinese name I wasn't able to catch, told me methadone has a bitter taste. However, he welcomes it. A jolt of bitterness appears to be a welcome trade for the angst heroin addicts endure dealing with the drug’s slavish pang. Through our interpreter, he explained he is a factory worker and has a family. He seems like so many other factory workers who live out their lives in Shanghai. I wanted to know more about him, and how he had found his way to this point, but a crowd had gathered and the intimacy of our conversation disappeared.

A woman, whose Chinese name sounded like Julie, (I'm sure it was something else--my ear for Chinese is poor), told me how glad she was to have broken the grip of her addiction. She appeared to be in her early 20's and wore stylish tight fitting jeans and giant pink sun glasses. Her teeth were stained in way that seems common here.

Julie told me she had a job now, working at a clothing store. "I don't have to worry about finding money for my habit any more."

"Do you feel better physically," I asked.

"Yes, and my Father says my face looks good again," was her response.

I asked how she felt when her body craved heroin. She described achiness, nausea and her entire body shaking uncontrollably." What an awful plague heroin is.

She was persuaded to seek help at the clinic by a volunteer who knew she had a problem. Addicts know addicts.

Secretary Leavitt signing a message in a book of patient stories at a methodone clinic in Shanghai
Secretary Leavitt signs a message in a book of patient stories at a methodone clinic in Shanghai

Bi-lateral Meeting and the Earthquake in China

My friend, the Minister of Health for China, Chen Zhu, had to cut short the day we had planned to spend together so he could get to the scene of the earthquake in Chaendu. We had a poignant conversation about this moment of crisis.

The Chinese government is not unfamiliar with, or unprepared for, this kind of disaster. In 1976, a similar earthquake killed 242,000. They have mobilized their army and civil society. Minister Chen was anxious to be on his way. It was gracious of him to host the meeting under those circumstances.

We had a significant list of agenda items, which we moved through in about an hour. Most of the items relate to the agreements we have or are negotiating on a range of issues.

Business takes longer in diplomatic meetings of this type because of language interpretation. I have found it is important to break my thoughts into short bits. Good interpreters have the ability to mimic your expressions and voice inflections, thereby providing insight into attitude as well as content. For that reason, both sides normally supply their own interpreters.

Our meeting was held in the Shanghai convention center, a new facility which appeared to have a set up for such diplomatic meetings. The United States is not as good as many other countries at diplomatic hosting. We don't have budgets for it, and I would like to see us improve our approach.

Over the years, I have come to know the interpreters and staff for the various ministries. Having been with people from the health ministry many times now, there is a good sense of warmth and familiarity.

I also visited a large hospital and attended a museum to learn more about Traditional Chinese Medicine, but I will write more about that in my next post.

Shanghai, China: Product and Food Safety

Written May 12, 2008

Well, this blog entry will break new ground for me. I'm writing it with my Blackberry while striding up and down on a stair stepper in a health club overlooking Shanghai, China. Before you jump to any conclusions about my accuracy with thumbs, be aware I'm going to send this draft to my colleague in Washington and have her clean up my double letters and typos. With the day’s schedule it is likely the best, perhaps only, opportunity I will have.

Yesterday, I gave a speech to about 800 representatives of manufacturing companies from around the world who supply a major retailer in the United States, the Target Corporation. It was a significant chance to once again send the message that if producers desire access to American consumers; they will have to meet American standards.

I spent the afternoon with a local office of the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ), a rough equivalent of a Chinese Customs and Border Protection. This is the entity in the Chinese government with specific responsibility for the safety and quality of imported and exported food. The people I met with had spent a significant amount of time in the United States, and understood our processes reasonably well. A half day is long enough to learn some essential facts, but not enough to draw conclusions. Most seaports have a similar feel around the world. Actually, most of the large unloading cranes are made in Shanghai.

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt joined by Chinese inspectors looks at chicken shipped from the U S  to the Port of Shanghai China's largest port
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt joined by Chinese inspectors looks at chicken shipped from the U S to the Port of Shanghai China's largest port

Not surprisingly, the Chinese see our concerns about the safety of food imports differently than we do. They repeatedly mentioned they require certificates before goods are shipped out of China, and point out we don't. They also want us to accept AQSIQ certificates as proof of the safety for Chinese food exports to the United States. I won't take that on in a blog, but it does indicate why it is important to understand the perspective of others. One learns a lot being able to talk with people on the ground.

I'm not going to get into a travel log, but there are a couple of observations worth making. This is an amazing city: incredibly vibrant and modern.

The Chinese are serious city-builders. They do infrastructure faster than anybody in the world, I think. They can just throw so many people at projects, and exercise such absolute social control, that they can move in a way that gives them a significant comparative advantage. In making that statement, I do not discount the negative environmental compromises, or the impact on human beings, but they have a clear set of priorities, and when they decide to move, things happen.

For example, they are building 150 miles of subway within the city in the next two years. Compare that to Boston’s Big Dig.

They decided to build a deep-water port about 18 miles off the shore of Shanghai on some islands. In order to get the goods from the port to the mainland, they needed a causeway. It will take them three years to build the causeway. It would take more than three years in the United States just to scope the work.

I was at the port when the earthquake struck. It was felt in the upper floors of our hotel, but not at the port. I visited the area of the earthquake last December. I am checking in at the White House to see if there are ways I can be helpful on behalf of the United States, and when I meet with the Minister of Health later today [Wednesday, May 13], I will express my condolences from all Americans for the loss of life here.

The disasters here and in Burma are frightening examples of how vulnerable we are as human beings.

Today, I'll visit a hospital and school of traditional medicine, and meet with a large group of students. Tomorrow, I'll meet with American businesses in Shanghai to discuss product safety, before I leave for Beijing.