A senior health official has called on the European Union to impose fewer restrictions on imports of traditional Chinese medicine.

Wang Guoqiang, vice-minister of health, said on Sunday that the EU should consider the character of Chinese culture and of TCM when making regulations on TCM imports.

"Unlike Western medicines, which attach great importance to laboratory results, TCM practitioners can determine symptoms of illness by checking the pulse," he said on the sidelines of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.