On 28 November, Li Chuyuan, chairman of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd. (GPG), delivered a keynote speech titled “Implementing the New Dual-Circulation Development Paradigm for the Building of a Global Community of Health for All” at the Health, Medical and Charity Forum of the Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2021.

The full speech is as below.

Dear guests, ladies, and gentlemen, 

Good morning!

I'm honored to attend the Health, Medical and Charity Forum of the Asia Youth Leaders Forum in this beautiful City of Flowers, Guangzhou, and exchange views with you on the health industry and charity in Asia during the pandemic.

In recent years, Asian countries have been promoting regional economic integration, boosting economic and social development, and driving Asia to become the region with the most economic vitality and growth potential in the world. Since last year, the sudden COVID-19 outbreak has had far-reaching influence on people's lives, social development, and the global economy. Be it the fight against the pandemic or post-pandemic recovery, people from different countries all need to stand together and help each other through thick and thin. In particular, the medicine and health industry, which is closely related to people's lives and health, urgently needs to discover new opportunities amid the crisis and seek new development from the changes. I believe the current development of the medicine and health industry has the following new features:

Firstly, demand of health-related consumption is increasing with each passing day. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly changed the whole society's perception of illnesses and health. A survey shows that 93% of respondents believe that health is the most important thing in their life and 70% of respondents believe that the pandemic has changed people's views on lives. Currently, people's health management concept has changed from treatment of diseases to preventive care. During the pandemic, China proposed to the world the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine to combat the disease. China's COVID-19 death rate is 4 per million people, the lowest in the world. Traditional Chinese medicine has been very effective in preventing mild cases from turning to severe cases and preventing critical-ill patients from dying. It can help rapidly build a more economical and efficient preventive guard. For example, according to the prescription given by veteran practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, we have developed anti-pandemic Chinese herbal sachets, using the fragrance of Chinese medicine to eliminate filth and remove poison. Within just a few months, one million sachets were sold.

Secondly, technological reform drives the old momentum into a new one. With the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the digital economy continued to grow during the pandemic, bucking the trend of a global recession and bringing an unprecedented developmental opportunity for the innovation of our business model. By making full use of the internet, we developed the model of "online mask reservation and home delivering" and the service of "online medicine purchase with 24-hour delivery" in the Suikang mini app on WeChat. Currently, we are building the section of Suikang Healthy Life into a grand health consumption platform covering medicine, medical appliances, dietary supplements, food, and so on. During the May 21 pandemic in Guangzhou, our delivery vehicles and UAVs delivered medicine directly to Fangcun and other quarantine areas, which was very popular.

Thirdly, higher-degree opening up reflects the idea of building a community with a shared future for mankind. Facing the global pandemic, China has always taken the initiative to open its market to the world. According to statistics from WTO, in the first half of 2021, China's exports increased by 0.9 percentage points than a year earlier to 14.6 percent, and imports increased by 0.7 percentage points on a year-on-year basis to 12 percent, contributing to 15 percent of the global increase in imports. We, as an enterprise, have played an active role, too. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, our group has donated anti-pandemic materials to Indonesia, Iran, Benin, Kenya, Fiji, and other countries. While the COVID-19 pandemic was having a profound impact on the world economy, China proposed a new approach, that is, to accelerate the transition to a "dual-circulation" development paradigm in which the domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other with the domestic market as the mainstay. As this forum is held in this context, I believe it will play an active role in promoting cooperation between Asian countries and enhancing dialogue with the world.

This year marks the centenary of the Communist Party of China. At the ceremony, General Secretary Xi Jinping said, "The party will continue to work with all peace-loving countries and peoples to promote the shared human values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom. We will continue to champion cooperation over confrontation, to open up rather than closing our doors, and to focus on mutual benefits instead of zero-sum games. We will oppose hegemony and power politics, and strive to keep the wheels of history rolling toward bright horizons."

I was honored to be invited to the celebration of the centenary of the Communist Party of China and listen to General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech on site. The ceremony was a centenary celebration with many highlights and firsts. For example, the July 1 Medal, the highest award given to CPC members, was bestowed for the first time. The ceremony was held at Tiananmen Square for the first time, where a total of over 70,000 representatives from all walks of life took part. There was the congratulatory address from youth representatives for the first time, which showed that the party attaches importance to the younger generation. 15 J-20 fighter jets forming three fleets flew over Tiananmen Square, which was the first time on such a large scale. General Secretary Xi Jinping declared that China has built a moderately prosperous society in all respects and that we are now marching in confident stride toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great, modern socialist country in all respects. To know about China, one needs to know about the century-long history of the Communist Party of China. The international community warmly congratulated the centenary of the Communist Party of China and political-party leaders and friends from many countries spoke highly of the great achievements the CPC has made in leading the Chinese people to stand up, grow prosperous, and become strong. We firmly believe that the Communist Party of China under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping will begin a brilliant new journey for the next hundred years. We are not alone on this great journey. Chinese people love peace, and Chinese enterprises advocate win-win cooperation. We will play an active role in promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind and contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese approaches to safeguarding world peace.

Not long ago, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China examined and approved the “Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century”, which is a full review of our party's major achievements and historical experience over the past century. The Resolution contains China's secrets of success in creating its first miracle of rapid economic growth, which includes adhering to the principle that only development counts, the policy of opening up, and the belief that innovation is the driving force for development. Chinese people are moving forward on the new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects with full confidence.

Since July 2021, we have also held 38 symposiums to learn the essence of General Secretary Xi Jinping's July 1 speech and the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and study how to strengthen international development and measures to fit in the dual-circulation development pattern. We have formulated a "four, six, eight" work plan following our entry in the Fortune 500 list. We try to take the lead in learning, spreading, and implementing the essence of General Secretary Xi's important speeches, carrying forward the great spirit of the party’s founding, promoting high-quality development, facilitating rural revitalization, developing the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and building a healthy China and a healthy Asia. I believe that China's development will provide more opportunities and a strong driving force for Asia and the world. The opening ceremony of the forum was held yesterday. After the opening ceremony, the party committee and the government of Guangzhou held a meetup. I saw that many young leaders from Asia believe that Guangzhou is full of developmental opportunities. After the meeting, many of them discussed with us in depth to strengthen cooperation.

In recent years, we are keeping a foothold in Guangzhou, this fertile land for innovation and development, and grasping the developmental opportunities of globalization and the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. We have continuously accelerated the pace of our globalization and carried out a series of innovative explorations. As the world's first traditional Chinese medicine enterprise that entered the Fortune 500 list, we ranked 468th on the list and 390th in terms of profit in 2021. Executive Chairman Schwab of the World Economic Forum, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Baxter, and others have sent over 300 congratulatory letters. At present, we have developed five categories of distinctive products covering fashionable TCM, innovative chemical medicine, biomedicine, business logistics, and grand medical care of medicine and recuperation. Our approaches to going global include the globalization of scientific research, industry, and culture.

In terms of scientific research, in recent years, the focus of the biopharmaceutical industry in Asia has turned to research and development from pure medicine making. We have brought in three Nobel Prize winners, 21 domestic academicians and TCM veterans, and over 100 doctoral and post-doctoral researchers and built 10 national scientific research platforms. The Guangzhou General Pharmaceutical Research Institute is the national resource center of laboratory canines, which has “chip-like” resources for innovative medicine research and development.

In terms of the industry, Asia is our most important overseas market. China and other Asian countries are either neighbors bordering each other or separated by only a strip of water. Sharing a natural bond of affinity, many regions in Asia have the tradition and habit of using traditional Chinese medicine. In the early 20th century, Wanglaoji Herbal Tea was sold to nanyang by overseas Chinese. Nowadays, Wanglaoji Herbal Tea is exported to 150 countries and regions. Academician Song just mentioned Lin Zexu. Actually, the name Wanglaoji was given by Lin Zexu. In 1828, the herbal tea was called Aji Herbal Tea. In 1838, Lin Zexu changed the name to Wanglaoji Herbal Tea. The medicine Hua Tuo Restorative Pills has been the No.1 exported Chinese patent medicine for over 10 consecutive years, and has been included in the coverage of medical insurance in a few countries such as South Korea and Vietnam.

In recent years, we have played an active role in advocating the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, pursued development with other Asian countries, advocated mutual benefit, and delivered hope. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is an important support for the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. We actively contribute into the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the factory in the Cross-Border Industrial Zone in Qingzhou, Macao, has been built and put into operation. The Ganoderma Lucidum Spore Oil is on the market in Macao. Baiyunshan Isatis Root Granule produced in Macao is expected to be among the first group of approved traditional Chinese medicine after Macao passes the law on traditional Chinese medicine. We hope to make use of Macao's role as a bridgehead in providing more quality Chinese patent medicine for the people of Asia and the world.

In terms of culture, as Chinese culture has a long history, after the Han and Tang dynasties, traditional Chinese culture, especially Confucianism, gradually spread in Asia, becoming an important part of the brilliant Asian civilization. We have always been open to dialogue with the world and embracing the world. We established the first overseas Wanglaoji Herbal Tea Museum in New York, USA, and launched the Wanglaoji Herbal Tea project. We plan to establish 56 such museums across the world. The Shennong Cottage TCM Museum built on Guangyao Baiyunshan Road has received over two million overseas tourists. Currently it is being expanded into a 5-A scenic spot of Lingnan TCM Museum, to tell good TCM stories to the world. The philosophy of our company is developing the brand of Baiyunshan and caring for the world. Helping the world has always been one of our core cultural values. Over the years, we have donated over one billion yuan at home and abroad. We have recycled expired medicine for 18 years, setting a Guinness World Record in the process. During the pandemic, we took the lead in promising not to stop production, not to raise prices, to guarantee product quality, and to put the public good first, so as to ensure medicine supply. We have donated anti-pandemic materials worth over 20 million yuan at home and abroad.

In China, there is an old saying, "Nothing, not even mountains and oceans, can separate people with shared goals and vision." This forum provides young talent from Asian countries an important exchange platform, which came at the right time in the current situation, and has profound meaning. We are doing our best to build a world-class biomedical and health enterprise with unique industrial features and distinctive culture. We expect to enhance cooperation with Asian countries, scientific research institutions, and enterprises; work hard to improve the wellbeing of all people; reduce medical treatment costs; and contribute to the high-quality economic development of Asia and the construction of a community with a shared future for all mankind. 

Finally, I wish you all health and good luck. Thank you!