The new Shanghai Ruidong Hospital, recently bought out by a Taiwanese company headed by ruling Kuomintang heavyweight Hsu Li-teh, was formally inaugurated Thursday as an institution providing upscale medical attention mainly to Taiwanese businessmen operating in China and their families. The hospital, formerly the Pudong branch of the Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, an affiliate of the Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, is the first Taiwan- financed hospital in the Shanghai area to obtain a business license from the Chinese health authorities. China's top negotiator with Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, president of the semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and a former director of the Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council, attended the inauguration ceremony. Addressing the opening, Hsu, who served as Republic of China vice premier between 1993 and 1997, said the hospital is an 'invaluable product' of cross- Taiwan Strait collaboration and peaceful exchanges. 'I expect this hospital will not only provide sound medical services to Taiwanese people living in China, it will also kick start a new mode of cooperation between medical sectors from across the strait,' Hsu said. He said the Taipei-based Global Investment Holdings (GIH) , of which he serves as board chairman, spent some NT$200 million (US$6.2 million) to acquire a 55 percent share of the hospital, with Shanghai Ruijin Hospital and the Tomson Group Ltd. as the two other shareholders in the joint venture. 'No KMT funds were used in the investment, ' Hsu went on, dismissing media speculation that he might be a KMT figurehead in the joint venture. He added that the GIH filed an application to the then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration three years ago for the investment plan and received approval. Hsu expressed hope that the issue of cross-strait medical services exchanges can be included in negotiations between the two sides' intermediary bodies -- ARATS and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) -- in the future. He said he hopes China-based Taiwanese people can enjoy the privilege of Taiwan's medical insurance using Taiwan-issued medical insurance cards at Taiwan-financed hospitals in China, such as the Shanghai Ruidong Hospital. Also speaking at the ceremony, Yan Su, a senior president of the Shanghai Ruijin Hospital Group, said the facility has recruited doctors and medical specialists from the United States and Taiwan, with medical teams from Shanghai Ruijin Hospital and Taipei's Wan Fang Hospital serving as back-ups. Hsian-jenn Wang, a professor at Taipei Medical University, is director of the hospital. 