On 28 November, Lyu Zhenya, president of China Newsweekly Magazine and China Philanthropist Magazine, delivered a keynote speech titled “Pooling Strength to Build a Vibrant, Synergistic, and Efficient Public-Interest Ecosystem” at the Health, Medical and Charity Forum of the Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2021.

The full speech is as below.

Dear guests, friends, colleagues in the media, and everyone here,
Good afternoon! First of all, I would like to say thank you to the organizers for inviting me here to this forum. I'm not really young anymore, but to have this honor to be invited shows that I have remained young at heart and that I am working in a field that is full of vigor and vitality. The work that I do happens to fit perfectly with this forum's key words: public interest and philanthropy. From the media's perspective, and as someone working in the media, I would like to share the following points with everyone here today.

Today's gathering is really worth cherishing. The pandemic has raged for almost two years and has hindered face-to-face communication, but it has given us even more topics in common. The world is facing unprecedented existential challenges, such as climate change, environmental deterioration, and widening wealth gap. In particular, public health issues such as medical treatment are presenting challenges to the strategic focus and sense of responsibility of different countries and cultures. Faced with these prominent challenges, people dedicated to the cause of public interest and philanthropy are currently applying their creativity and influence to promote the construction of a healthy, positive, open, inclusive, and orderly earth. Today's discussion will unite our forces. Action-makers require power. The public-interest and philanthropic sector need to pool resources and energy from all parties and establish a philanthropic environment that is full of vitality, interactions, and synergies. To put it into an old Chinese saying, "if you have money, contribute money; it you have power, contribute power".

I work in the media. Since the inception of China Newsweekly Magazine in 2000, there has always been this journalistic concept of influencing those influential. Under that conceptual guidance, we have held a forum on corporate social responsibility for 17 successive years. China Newsweekly Magazine was one of the earliest state-run media platforms that raised the proposal of enterprises taking social responsibilities. One of our other all-media platforms, China Philanthropist Magazine, has always been devoted to spreading the concept of public interest and philanthropy and the shaping of philanthropic culture. It can be said that the media is a spreader, pioneer, and a linker in the philanthropic ecosystem. At today's forum we are especially looking forward to joining hands with all our friends and like-minded colleagues gathered here from across Asia to promote the cause of public interest and philanthropy.

Today's forum responds to the call of the current age: we are all well aware that topics concerning public interest and philanthropy have not just become popular topics in the Chinese society, but also in the international society. Not long ago, the Chinese government went further in proposing the guiding ideologies and policy orientation of "common prosperity" and "re-redistribution", which will help promote introspection in China’s philanthropic sector and strengthen the internal driving forces within this field. This forum has taken medicine and health as the entry point to discuss the intrinsic value of public interest and philanthropy to social-governance system. This is a social topic of realistic significance that responds to the current needs in Chinese society as well as evoking the attention of all Asian countries. As far as I know, the field of medicine and health has always been a priority of public interest and philanthropy, and a beautiful life is dependent upon a healthy body. We hope that even more resources can be funneled into philanthropic endeavors that focus on the grand health system. In this respect, one could say that the youth of Asia have bright prospects!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, I would also like to share a different viewpoint. In reality, there exists a conflict, which is that we hope more wealth and resources can be invested in philanthropy but that wealth owners question the transparency and professional nature of the sector. Therefore, we should strengthen the transparency of the philanthropic sector and build up public trust by organized execution and specialized actions. This is something that the industry must face at some point in the future. In this respect, the media has the multiple functions of transmission, connection, and supervision and is capable of playing a role in value discovery, leading to an enhancement in transparency and public trust. Across Asia, there has been an increase in media taking up a positive and active role in the creation of a philanthropic ecosystem. This is a trend, and it represents the future.

Via this forum, I would also like to discuss a certain direction with everyone: in resolving universal problems, as technology advances, promoting the integrated development of digital technology and philanthropy is yielding more and more incredible examples of "tech for social good". Thus, we hope that with the help of technology, the field of philanthropy and new technologies and applications – including those in the medicine and health industry – can empower each other, so as to enhance humanity's capacity to deal with existential and developmental problems.

Finally, I have a wish that I really want to say: players in public interest and philanthropy can achieve in-depth participation in the global governance system through multilateral organizations as well as global platforms like this forum. On the one hand, this allows them to solve problems through public-interest projects, and on the other, they can promote the creation of influential philanthropic brands. Thank you, everyone!