CCTV:
In recent years, there has been an increasing level of attention to charitable activities in society. Could you please share the next steps the MCA will take to promote the high-quality development of charity in China? Thank you.
Thank you for your question. Public welfare and charity undertakings are moral practices with wide public participation. It is a crucial mark for social civility and progress. Just as you mentioned, society has been paying more attention to and increasing participation in charitable and public-interest initiatives. According to the statistics, there are now over 13,000 charity organizations registered in China. Charitable donations have been steadily on the rise. Charity systems have been continuously improved. The culture of public welfare and charity has taken deeper roots in the hearts of the people. The force of public welfare and charity has played an active role in many areas, such as poverty alleviation, epidemic prevention and control, rural revitalization, education, science, culture, health, ecological conservation, and emergency response and rescue. This Sept. 5 marked China's 8th Charity Day. We held the 12th gathering for the China Charity Awards at the Great Hall of the People, praising a group of charity programs, models, enterprises, individuals, and teams. Many media friends present here covered the gathering, receiving a positive response from the general public. Here, I would like to express thanks to you all.
The report to the 20th CPC National Congress has put forward that China will build an institutional framework under which primary, secondary, and tertiary distributions are well coordinated and mutually complementary, and emphasized that China will provide guidance and support for enterprises, social organizations, and individuals who have the desire and ability to actively participate in charitable and public-interest initiatives, pointing the direction for the development of public welfare and charity undertakings. Next, we will continue to earnestly study and put into practice the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress and advance the high-quality development of charity with Chinese characteristics. We will prioritize the work in the following three aspects:
Firstly, we will continue to ensure a right direction for charity development. We will uphold and strengthen the overall leadership of the Party, follow a people-centered approach, and guide public welfare and charity forces to answer the call of the Party and play an active role, and ensure it continues in the right direction. We will keep focusing on those who run into special difficulties and are most in need of help and promote public welfare and charity resources to benefit all sorts of people in difficulty in a timely and accurate manner and contribute to achieving common prosperity. We will step up institution building, prioritize revising the Charity Law and improving supporting policies, and advance the coordination and mutual complementarity of tertiary distribution institutions with the primary and secondary distribution institutions.
Secondly, we will provide guidance and support for enterprises, social organizations, and individuals who have the desire and ability to actively participate in charitable and public-interest initiatives. We will advocate for the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, including mutual assistance in times of adversity and helping the needy. We will make good use of important festivals and charity awards to give play to the exemplary role of role models so as to further inspire the passion of the whole of society to support and engage in charitable and public-interest initiatives. We will encourage all localities to diversify and broaden their ways and channels of participation, facilitate the application of digital technology in charity, and move faster to develop an environment in which everyone can engage in charity at any time.
Thirdly, we will strengthen the regulation of charity and work to improve its transparency. We will strengthen Party leadership and Party building within charity organizations. We will standardize internal governance and industry self-discipline of charity organizations and establish and improve a modern system for charity organizations. We will launch the Sunshine Charity project and encourage the general public and media to supervise charity. We will facilitate all kinds of charity organizations to disclose true information in a comprehensive and accurate way. We will strengthen the whole-process regulation of charity activities to improve the transparency and credibility of charitable and public-interest initiatives.
That's all for my answer to the question briefly. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to our friends from the media for your long-term attention and support for civil affairs work, especially the development of civil affairs undertakings.
Chen Wenjun:
Thanks to Mr. Tang and all the speakers and friends from the media. Today's briefing is hereby concluded.
Translated and edited by Xu Xiaoxuan, Wang Wei, Li Xiao, Zhang Junmian, Lin Liyao, Wang Ziteng, Li Huiru, Qin Qi, Yuan Fang, Yan Bin, Liu Caiyi, Wang Yanfang, Zhang Tingting, Huang Shan, Zhang Rui, Zhou Jing, Wang Yiming, Xu Kailin, David Ball, and Jay Birbeck. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.