Medical materials can now be imported through the Aidian Checkpoint in Chongzuo, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous area, officials from the Medical Products Administration of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region announced on March 16.

The decision was approved by the State Council, the National Medical Products Administration and the General Administration of Customs.

Huang Chen, head of the Medical Products Administration of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, noted that Guangxi has gradually become a main passage for importing traditional Chinese medicines from ASEAN with the rapid development of China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation in the sector.

He noted that the total value of TCM materials imported from ASEAN via Guangxi checkpoints has ranked first in China for two consecutive years since 2020. 

As of now, Guangxi has five checkpoints for importing TCM materials and the other four were Nanning, Fangchenggang's Dongxing, Chongzuo's Pingxiang and Baise's Longbang checkpoints, which handle business with ASEAN countries including Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia.  

Huang added that Guangxi will accelerate the construction of processing bases for imported and rare TCM materials in the future.