The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Taiwan managed to establish APEC's first
healthcare sub-fund in late May despite months of Chinese obstruction.

It was created to address rapidly aging societies and Taiwan donated
1.5-million U-S dollars to establish the fund.

According to Jonathan Sun, the head of the ministry's Department of
International Organizations, it is the first large-scale initiative Taiwan
has launched within APEC in a decade, but it faced numerous difficulties
because of China.

Sun says it took 10 months of "challenging and lengthy" discussions for APEC
economies to reach a consenus on the fund, as China persistently offered
"advice and suggestions," some of which "were not that reasonable."

An APEC press release says the Taiwan-initiated sub-fund ...

.... "will support the development of future-ready healthcare systems by
deploying A-I, other emerging technologies and innovative policies to improve
accessibility, efficiency and equitable health access for all communities in
the Asia-Pacific."