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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION |
International Material Technology Promotion Center
The Conference witnessing the foundation of the International Material Technology Promotion Center was held October 19, 2003 in Beijing. Mr. V. Kozharnovich, the representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and China Association of Building Material Industry, the diplomats from 40 and odd developing countries and 100 and more participants from renowned domestic industrial businesses, universities, research institutes, societies and associations were present at the occasion.
Under the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Commerce, UNIDO establish the Center in Beijing with its Headquarters physically located at the Chinese Academy of Building Material Sciences. The center is the first international organization established by UNIDO for material technologies in China. The Center is missioned to establish the global framework and mechanism for material technology transfer, helping the developing countries narrow down the gaps in market and technology, strengthening the south-south and south-north cooperation, and promoting the sustainable development.
Being an international center for promoting the productivity, the new center will take full advantage of the international networking of UNIDO to create direct channels for Chinese enterprises into the overseas market and introduce advanced technologies from abroad, strengthening the technical cooperation and exchanges between China and other countries in the field of materials, and playing a radiation and demonstrating role among the developing countries in the field. 2003 marks the year for the construction of China's S&T intermediary firms. Under this context, the Ministry of Science and Technology has made promoting the construction of S&T intermediary firms one of the S&T priorities in the year, and listed it a very important area in the national long and medium range S&T planning. The establishment of the center marks a new phase for the development of S&T intermediary firms in the field of materials.
It is reported that so far the Center has kicked off its activities in Africa and South America, and will extend its activities further to other countries and regions on the basis of macro demands analysis by experts. Under the authorization by UNIDO, the Center has made its study tour in Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and is currently working on technical promotion activities in the field.
25th Anniversary for China-Germany S&T Cooperation
On October 13, 2003, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and German Federal Ministry of Education and Research celebrated their joint 25th anniversary for the signing of the intergovernmental S&T cooperation agreement between the two countries at the Beijing China-Germany Scientific Center. In the past 25 years, two countries had launched S&T cooperation projects in 20 and more fields such as aviation, oceanography, manufacturing technology, new materials, environment and ecology and cultural relics protection. The cooperation between the two countries has produced a great number high caliber S&T personnel.
Liu Yanhua, Chinese Vice Minister of Science and Technology expressed at the celebration ceremony that recent years have witnessed more and more S&T cooperation activities between the two countries targeting at high tech fields with the increased participation of industrial businesses, which realized the cooperation mode of two plus two, namely each side should have the participation of a research institute and an industrial enterprise, a new characteristic of the S&T cooperation between two countries.
The German government S&T delegation headed by Dr. Wolf-Dieter Dudenhausen, State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research visited China and attended the celebration ceremony October 5-14, 2003. Dr. Dudenhausen said the S&T cooperation agreement between China and Germany is the second official agreement signed after the establishing the diplomatic relation between the two countries and there are no other countries like China who has forged so close a cooperation tie with Germany. The Beijing China-Germany Scientific Center established in 2000 makes the German scientific community have for the first time its own overseas mission, creating a fine environment for the development of new ideas, information exchange and scientific cooperation between the scientific communities and scientists of two countries.
China-ASEAN Joint S&T Meeting
The third session of China-ASEAN Joint S&T Meeting was held September 22-27, 2003 in the Ho Chi Minh City where the 35th session of the ASEAN S&T Committee member meeting also took place. 45 representatives from ten countries including China, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and from the Secretariat of ASEAN were present at the meeting.
The official of Dept. of International Cooperation, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology pointed out, after the review of the implementation of the projects defined by the previous joint meeting, that the S&T cooperation between China and ASEAN in varieties of fields has effectively promoted the development of bilateral or multilateral S&T cooperation and the national economy. The official of ASEAN S&T Committee expressed that the Joint S&T Committee between China and ASEAN makes a very important cooperation mechanism and a platform for the S&T cooperation between two sides, creating new cooperation activities and guaranteeing the smooth implementation of the cooperative projects approved by both sides.
During the meeting, both sides reviewed the S&T cooperation activities between China and ASEAN in the fields of biotechnology, remote sensing, seismology, functional foods and marine technologies, and discussed the proposed new cooperation projects. In addition, both sides discussed the problems in the current cooperation and the future implementation plan for the approved projects. In the meanwhile, both sides have exchanged views on the budget sources and funding mechanism for the cooperative activities. The meeting has agreed to make the S&T cooperation in the field of materials a priority.
Both sides agreed that the 4th session of China-ASEAN Joint Meeting on S&T Cooperation will be held 2005 in China. Both sides signed the summary report of the third session of China-ASEAN Joint Meeting on S&T Cooperation at the end of the meeting.
The Chinese Delegation had during the meeting extensive exchanges and explorations with the delegations of ASEAN countries on the development of S&T cooperation under the framework of ten plus one. The meeting has laid a foundation, through specific cooperation proposals and the improvement of the cooperation mechanism, for the future cooperation in a deeper and more practical manner.
China-Sweden S&T Cooperation
At the invitation of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, the Swedish Delegation headed by Mr. Ostros, Swedish Minster of Education and Science made its 5-day visit to China on October 15, 2003. During the visit, Mr. Ostros and his party visited the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing Post and Telecommunication University, Northern Center of National Human Genome Program, National Rocket Launching and Measuring Center, and Zhongguancun High Tech Park. Mr. Ostros made a speech at the School of the Chinese Communist Party. Mr. Xu Kuangdi, President of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Xu Guanhua, Minster of Science and Technology, and Zhou Ji, Minster of Education met with Mr. Ostros and his party on respective occasions.
China and Sweden have enjoyed a close cooperation tie in the field of science and technology. In 1981, the former State Science and Technology Commission signed with the former Swedish National Technology Development Bureau (now Swedish Innovation Bureau) the protocol on the cooperation in the fields of science and technology. Up to date, 14 joint meetings were held which covered numerous cooperation fields such as metallurgy, aviation, medical science, environmental protection, energy, biotechnology, information technology and materials with 53 projects under the implementation. New materials, energy, biotechnology and information technology have constituted the priority fields for the cooperation between the two countries.
Xu Guanhua, Chinese Minister of Science and Technology held talks with Mr. Ostros during his visit, and both parties agreed that an inter-governmental agreement on the cooperation in the fields of sciences and technology shall be singed as soon as possible so as to replace the current protocol for the purpose of further deepening the S&T cooperation between the two sides. At the end of the talks, the Swedish Loyal Academy of Engineering conferred Mr. Xu with the title of foreign academician.
Low Oxygen Helps Division of Leukemia Cells
Chen Guoqiang, the chief scientist of the National Major Basic Research Program reported for the first time in the world that the low oxygen simulating compound and the associated environment may trigger the division of leukemia cells. He also believed that the low oxygen inducement factor-1 protein may become the potential targets for the medicines able to induce the division of leukemia cells. The reviewers of US based academic journal Leukemia expressed that Chen's work may become another major original discovery that pushes forward the study of leukemia treatment.
In the study of the effective treatment of active basophilic normoblast leukemia with arsenic, Mr. Chen discovered that arsenic's capability for the external inducement of the division of leukemia cells is far less effective than its internal inducement, and therefore he presumed that some internal elements may help improve the clinic treatment effects of arsenic. He and his students then started to study these potential elements and eventually discovered through repeated experiments that low oxygen simulating compound, namely cobalt black and low oxygen environment (2%-3% O2) itself may not only be able to greatly enhance the arsenic capability to induce the external division of cells but also able to trigger the direct division of leukemia cells. What makes it more important is in addition to the active basophilic normoblast leukemia cells, the low oxygen environment may induce other types of leukemia cells to divide. Mr. Chen concluded that the low oxygen inducement factor-1 protein may possibly be an important information carrier for bone marrow leukemia cell division, and the steel ion chelant that controls the degradation of this carrier is also able to induce the leukemia cell division externally.
Mr. Chen expressed that it will take some time to see if the breakthrough can become useful for the clinic treatment, though the discovery has provided a brand new theory for the genesis and treatment of leukemia diseases. At present, researchers are working on relevant medicine screening and corresponding animal experiments based on the new finding, striving to land further breakthroughs in the inducement based division therapy created by Chinese scientists.
Cow Cloned for Treating Human Gastric Ulcer
On October 4, 2003, a cloned cow named Yanwa was born in Liangshan County, Shandong Province, the first of its kind in the country who carries the human fucose transferase gene that may treat the human gastric ulcer. The cow is expected to produce the milk in 8 to 12 months, from which the effective elements for treating the human gastric ulcer can be separated.
The genetically modified cow makes the first cow in the world that carries three modified genes (human fucose transferase gene, green fluorescent protein gene and neomycin resistant gene). It is explained that fucose transferase is an important enzyme in the human body to catalyze the formation of blood sugar antigen, with a major function to add fucose based cluster to the sugar chains so to form varieties of blood sugar antigens.
Fucose antigen has found existence in human being and Primates. With the help of genetic modification technique, researchers have planted the human fucose transferase gene into the cow's genome so as to make the milk have the expression of fucose antigen. The genetically modified milk can become an oral medicine for treating or preventing the infection by blocking the pyloric spirilla from combining with the gastric cells. The birth of Yanwa cow will be of the significance to the prevention and treatment of stomach diseases as well as important economic and social values.
Treating Nerve Diseases with Traditional Means
Prof. Wu Ziming, Dr. Wang Wei and Dr. Jia Shaowei, with Shenzhen Hospital under Peking University have achieved the effective treatment of drug addicted brain diseases and Parkinson's diseases with traditional medicines. Experts believed that the development has made a major breakthrough in treating major nerve system diseases with Chinese traditional medicine.
With the help of vision technology and internationally advanced neurocyte imaging technique, researchers clearly captured the evidences of damaged brain cells and improved their knowledge of the brain nerve damaging process by drugs under the computer based monophoton sectional scanning. On the said basis, researchers adopted tailored treatment measures and achieved remarkable results. It is reported that 83.8% of the patients under the therapy have achieved the half-year stability which is statistically meaningful and greatly higher than the level so far achieved both at home and abroad.
Luobu Lake: A Quasi Salt Lake in the Past
Recently the project of Luobu Lake Deep Drilling under the China Continent Environment Scientific Drilling co-sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Chinese Academy of Sciences has made its first drill in Ruoqiang County, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, the place that used to be the center of Luobu Lake. The expedition team will gather the consecutive rock core specimen as deep as 800m.
It is reported that researchers have collected a section of dark grayish silt and sand powder mixed with shells and limited amount of gypsum at the depth of 160-250m. Researchers explained that only when the lake water is deep and the lake floor lacks oxygen can the silt become dark grayish in color. In the meantime, by deducting the appearance of limited amount of salt crystal, researcher believed that the lake water at the time had reached a degree of salinity and concluded that the lake used to be a deep quasi salt lake during the period between 1.8-2.5 million years ago. China experienced in that period of time a wet lake age. Other ancient lake studies in Sanmenxia and Chaidamu areas also concluded that Luobu Lake was in a relatively wet state at the time.
The project constitutes the first environment oriented scientific drilling launched by the Chinese scientists in the Luobu Lake area. In addition to the first drilling site, researchers will make the parallel drilling at a depth of 50m over other selected sites in the lake area so as to make necessary verifications and supplements to the analysis and conclusions drawn from the first drilling site.
Comments or inquiries on editorial matters or Newsletter content should be directed to:Mr. Cheng Jiayi, Department of International Cooperation, MOST 15B, Fuxing Road Beijing 100862, PR China Tel: (8610)68512650 Fax: (8610) 68512594
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