With financial support from China Railway Pearl Investment Group, Xue Yu founded Pearl Humanitarian Rescue in 2015.

The 28-year-old entrepreneur, who was born in Rizhao, Shandong province, spent 10 years in Australia and the United States before resettling in China with his family to pursue a career as an investor.

His rescue team was the first to reach the epicenter of the earthquake in Nepal last year. To date, PHR is the only international NGO rescue entity in China, with about 40 management staff and more than 700 contracted hospitals.

In the event of a disaster, when rescue or relief is needed, PHR summons its contracted doctors and pays all the costs.

The business model of PHR is similar to that of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Doctors Without Borders.

"However, we are different from them," Xue said. "We want to establish a brand-new model to team up with big and influential enterprises, starting with Chinese ones, such as Huawei and CNPC, to integrate all the resources, such as local personnel and vehicles, when we reach any corner of the world, since they have branches worldwide.

"This is an extension of the Belt and Road Initiative, I believe."

Xue said Chinese people should do more to help internationally, especially with disaster relief.

"China has become the second-largest economy in the world," he said. "The whole world is watching what we are doing. As of now, PHR has set up regional coordinating offices in Nepal, Ecuador and Myanmar. PHR will cover 17 major areas of poverty and refugee crisis by 2018."

PHR will sign an agreement with the China Poverty Relief Foundation to establish the Pearl Philanthropist Fund on Jan 7, in Beijing. "The outside world knows too little about our ability to contribute to other countries," Xue said. "We are in the process of completing our development plan, to make PHR a shining brand from China."

larrylee@chinadailyusa.com