Analysis Of The Competitive Advantage Of China's Trade In Health Services And Countermeasures

Economic globalization is one of the characteristics that define the beginning of the 21^st century. The development of economic globalization increases cross-border flows of goods, services, capital, people, information, and ideas. Many countries especially the developing countries pay more attention to the development of trade in health services. Many factors must be considered when assessing the implication of trade in health services, but ultimately the impact of the trade depends on the specifics of a country's national health care system, the regulatory environment, and government policies. Each supply mode has associated benefits and problems. The essential problem is how to promote its contribution to national health care system.The first part of paper introduces background, impact and theory relative to trade in health services. Traditional theories of comparative advantages focus on static advantages which is determined by the relative abundance of production factors and trade conditions. But the advantage of trade in health services is dynamic, so the study of health services should stress the analysis of competitive advantages.China became a member of WTO in 2001, and opened its medical markets. The second part of paper analyzes Chinese commitments to enter WTO, negotiation of trade in health services, and the developmentof four supply modes in China. But after China entering to WTO, obvious increases in health services do not happen.The third part of paper analyzes the competitive advantages of trade in health services. China has advantages in exporting nurses and traditional medicine. Pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, consumables, domestic government also provide convenience for trade services. But these comparative advantages do not transform to competitive advantages. That is, there is something wrong with the transformable mechanism.How to transform our comparative advantages to competitive advantages? The fourth part of paper answer this question. Export strategy should focus on not only domestic health care system reform, but also international marketing of health services. Relative sectors should establish cooperative relations and promote exports of health services.