Message of the Director General of the Universal Postal Union

We all need to recognize the incredible sacrifices made by postal operators and their staff during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Deemed essential staff as the pandemic raged furiously across the world, these postal workers labored hard to deliver the mail.

Some workers tragically lost their lives; others confronted life-changing damage to their health.

Many more suffered in numerous other ways.

I salute the bravery and dedication of the millions of postal workers who continued to deliver when faced with global disruption.

You have made this industry and the world proud—I stand in awe of your many achievements.

Through airline stoppages, border closures, outbreaks in sorting offices and elsewhere, the mail was kept moving.

When obstacles barred the way, new routes were forged. Trains and boats replaced passenger planes; postal operators designed new ways of working, new ways of delivering.

Huge logistical chains transcending national borders and continents—covering vast distances—were altered within days and weeks.

Innovation and creativity were the hallmarks of this new period and the drivers of fresh ways of providing social and financial services to customers.

Thanks to the post, the old, isolated and infirm were assisted; life-saving medicines delivered; protective equipment provided; and essential financial services maintained.

The Universal Postal Union also stepped up by providing much needed analysis, partnerships and innovation to our member countries.

Despite the many challenges, we have collectively upheld our duty to the universal service obligation calling for postal deliveries to everyone on this planet, no matter their location. 

World Post Day is a fitting day to pay tribute to our member countries, postal operators, postal workers and everyone else involved in delivering the mail.

Since our earliest beginnings, we have overcome wars, natural disasters and pestilence.

We have always delivered.

The year 2020, however, was the year that the postal industry showed the world its resilience, its determination, and the invaluable role it plays in every society.

We showed we are more than mail.

More than Mail

Contributing more than postal services to the decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects

Message from Mr. Liu Aili, Chairman of China Post Group

On the occasion when our country has secured major strategic achievements in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic and the whole nation is celebrating the 71^st anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, we usher in the 51^st World Post Day. On behalf of China Post Group, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the governments at all levels, dear customers, and friends from all walks of life for their long-term support. I would also like to extend my greetings to the active and retired postal staff nationwide.

As a vital public service, postal service is a fundamental, strategic and leading industry for the development of the national economy. Being the “national team” of the postal industry, China Post has always been playing a significant role in facilitating the national economic and social development and guaranteeing people’s right to communication. With the deepening of reform and innovation in recent years, China Post has evolved from a traditional postal enterprise into a modern conglomerate that not only provides universal postal service and special services, but also operates financial services such as banking, insurance, securities, funds, etc., modern express and logistics services and e-commerce.

Currently, we propose to accelerate the construction of the “four girders and eight pillars” of China Post for its high-quality development. The “four girders” refer to universal service, express and logistics service, financial service and rural e-commerce.

Among them, universal service is an institutional arrangement for equal access to public services and the “root” of China Post. At present, China Post has 54,000 postal outlets, covering all towns and rural areas, with direct postal services reaching all administrative villages across the country. China Post reaches wherever people reside, no matter whether it is at the remote outposts, on the snow-covered plateau or in the Gobi Desert.

Express and logistics service is our main duty and business. With its “three in one” integrated flow of business, goods and capital, its network and channel of 174 ports worldwide under the UPU cooperation framework, its 3-dimensional transportation network integrating sea, land and air routes, and its 32 cargo aircraft, our express and logistics service is playing a vital role in facilitating domestic “micro-circulation”, smoothing the artery of international logistics and ensuring the stability of the supply chain and the integrity of the industrial chain.

Postal Savings Bank of China is one of the six large State-owned commercial banks in China. By the end of June 2020, PSBC has nearly 40,000 outlets, about 400,000 staff members and 613 million individual customers. With over 8.6 trillion yuan (about 1.267 trillion US dollars) of personal deposits, nearly 11 trillion yuan (about 1.62 trillion US dollars) of total assets, it continues to lead the industry in assets quality.

Rural e-commerce is an important way for China Post to foster platform economy. With its over 600,000 convenience service stations (including Ule stations) and comprehensive online and offline channels, China Post has smoothed the two-way channel that facilitates the transport of manufactured products to rural areas and agricultural products to the cities, enabling farmers to increase their income and consumers to reduce their costs, and invigorating micro entities.

Those who strive will achieve their goal. Since the beginning of this year, we, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, have fully implemented the decisions and policies made by the CPC Central Committee. Sticking to new development philosophies and giving priority to quality and profitability, we have coordinated the COVID-19 response with the operation and development of China Post, thus maintaining a good momentum of development and contributing positively to ensuring the stability on the six fronts (employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment, and expectations) and security in the six areas (job security, basic living needs, operations of market entities, food and energy, stable industrial and supply chains, and the normal functioning of primary-level governments). Especially since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have reacted swiftly and taken the initiative to open a green channel for the delivery of donated supplies. With our commitments to “four uninterrupted services (i.e. uninterrupted services in postal outlets, of the confidential communications, collection and delivery as well as its online services) and four free services for donations and medical supplies (i.e. free delivery, free home pickup, free mailing of private donations and free transfer of donated funds)”, we made every effort to guarantee the delivery of medical supplies to Wuhan, fully supported the distribution of the daily necessities to the people, and donated money, insurance and income of anti-epidemic philatelic products. We provided loan support for various anti-epidemic companies, and strived to solve the financing difficulties of medium, small and micro enterprises. We tried every means to support the restoration of economic and social order, and build a large international logistics channel to ensure the stability of industrial and supply chains. In coordinating epidemic control and resumption of work and production, China Post has always been at the forefront, and fully demonstrated our fulfilment of the responsibilities as the “national team” of the postal industry, thereby widely praised by the governments at all levels and people from all walks of life.

The theme of the World Post Day this year is “More than Mail”. Focusing on this theme, we will remain true to our original aspiration and founding mission of serving the people, strive to forge the “national team” of the industry, make more contributions to economic and social development, and care for the better life of the people, and deliver more than mail to the connected world with our ubiquitous network.

We will forge a “national team” that the CPC Central Committee trusts. We will continue to study and implement the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; take the “Two Upholds” (upholding General Secretary Xi Jinping’s core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and upholding the Central Committee’s authority and its centralized, unified leadership) as the top priority of political work; strengthen our consciousnesses of maintaining political commitment, thinking in terms of the general picture, following the core leadership of the CPC Central Committee, and acting in accordance with its requirements; and stay confident in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We will build China Post into an important material and political foundation for the Party to govern and rejuvenate the nation, and a team that can step up on command at critical junctures and fight to win battles in serious situations. We will persist in considering worst-case scenarios, and make constant efforts to forestall major risks. We will persevere in our efforts to coordination regular epidemic prevention and control with our operation and development.

We will forge a “national team” that people are satisfied with. Staying true to our founding mission, we will conscientiously fulfill our social responsibilities and continually improve our service capabilities and levels, so as to ensure the quality and standard of universal services and meet people’s needs for better life. We will continue our cause of poverty alleviation in our designated areas, through e-commerce and finance, and facilitate to secure the victory of poverty alleviation and revitalize rural areas. To solve the problems of financing, sales and logistics faced by new agricultural entities such as farmers' cooperatives, we will develop featured cooperation projects that benefit farmers, build a production and sales coordination platform for “China Post farm produces”, and provide a package of comprehensive services for millions of farmers’ cooperatives and thousands of family farms across the country.

We will forge a “national team” that has core competitiveness. Through in-depth reform, quality and productivity improvement as well as technology empowerment, we will enhance our competence and influence as a national team of the industry. We will conscientiously implement the three-year action plan for the reform of State-owned enterprises, actively modernize the system and capacity of corporate governance, and move faster to give shape to corporate governance structures with effective checks and balances and flexible and efficient market-based operating mechanisms. We will deepen the reform of express and logistics with resolve and self-sacrifice, and accelerate quality and profitability improvement. We will take the best financial institutions as our models, push forward the transformation and development of our financial services, and nurture new development advantages. We will strengthen our position as the main channel of rural e-commerce, and foster a win-win rural ecommerce ecosystem for the government, farmers, and postal services, so as to generate income for farmers and reduce costs for consumers. We will also accelerate technology empowerment and strive to improve the level of information, automation and intelligence.

We will forge an open and collaborative “national team”. Giving full play to our advantages of the network that covers the whole country and reaches the rest of the world and our advantages of the “three in one” integrated flows, we will further deepen our cooperation with relevant ministries and governments at all levels, and develop a one-stop convenience service platform, so as to undertake public service projects from the government. Adhering to open and cooperative philosophies, we will deepen cooperation with large conglomerates and postal operators of other countries, so as to build strong partnerships and achieve complementarity and win-win cooperation.

Move steadily and go afar. China Post will arm itself with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and put it into practice, remain true to its founding mission of serving the people, persist in deepening reform and innovation, and strive to boost the second rise of China Post, so as to make new and greater contributions to the decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and the realization of the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.