APEC Stories: Healing beyond borders – China's medical aid in PNG

Editor's note: The 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held in Gyeongju, South Korea, from October 31 to November 1. CGTN's "APEC Stories" series will showcase cooperation and culture of 21 APEC economies through visual storytelling.

Papua New Guinea (PNG), an island nation in the South Pacific, is rich in natural resources and biodiversity but faces shortage of adequate medical resources.

In 2002, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality dispatched a medical team to PNG – the country's first such mission to the South Pacific region. Over the past 23 years, China has sent several batches of medical staff to PNG. They have not only provided clinical services, but also shared their knowledge and techniques with local doctors, organized free clinics in rural areas and donated medicines and medical equipment to local communities, thereby improving the local healthcare environment.

In 2022, the China-PNG Friendship Center of Minimally Invasive Surgery was inaugurated. The center has since offered multidisciplinary minimally invasive surgeries and related training.