A launch ceremony for the International Cancer Centre of Asia was held on Wednesday as part of the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation.  According to Wang Jianyu, director of the center's preparing committee, the Beijing-based center is not simply a hospital, nor a research institution, but a platform for resources, innovative ideas and services. With medical experts from both China and EU nations, the center will mainly focus on nine fields, especially the combination of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medical treatments in treating cancer, Wang said at the press conference.

Jérôme Lepeintre, first counselor of health and consumers of the EU delegation, added that cancer is a global disease that sees annual increases in the millions around the world. China alone sees 3.5 million new cancer cases each year.

Poor living habits, environment pollution, as well as an aging population are all factors behind these numbers, Lepeintre noted. 

Lepeintre told the Global Times that while certain programs help arrange seminars between China and the EU, this is not enough.

"When you organize a seminar, it's a nice meeting where people present things and the achievements of their country. But after the seminar everybody goes back home and things continue as normal," Lepeintre said.

"We are very satisfied to see that there will be a concrete facility where sick people can be treated under better conditions, with better treatments and therefore have a better chance of recovery." 

While radiation treatment and chemotherapy are the two most common ways to treat canter, Lepeintre pointed out that there have been findings showing TCM also has benefits.

"You know cancer treatment is something very aggressive and very damaging to the body. Traditional Chinese medicine can help very much in mitigating the side effects of cancer treatment," he told the Global Times.

According to the press conference, the center's will officially begin operations in July using current facilities at the center, while the rest of the center's new facilities are scheduled to be completed before 2020.