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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION |
China-Italy Carbon Funds Meeting
An Italy financed carbon fund meeting, jointly sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Italian Ministry of the Environment, was convened on May 22, 2004 in Beijing. Some 50 participants, from the Chinese government, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Development and Reform Commission, and the State Environmental Protection Administration, and from domestic industries, academic institutes and banking community, attended the meeting.
The representative from the World Bank cited, at the meeting, the Italian carbon funds and its financed community development carbon funds as a learning example, in an introduction to major activities launched by the World Bank for carbon funds. Official from the Ministry of Science and Technology made a presentation on China’s clean development mechanism. The participants from industries, research institutes and venture capital businesses had a heated discussion, with the representatives from Italy, the World Bank and the Chinese government, on numerous related issues, including Chinese enterprises’ applications for carbon funds, priority projects to be supported by the funds, and risks sharing.
According to a briefing, Chinese industries’ limited knowledge of carbon funds activities in the world, including basic requirements for a clean development mechanism, funds operation rules and application procedures, has restricted China’s initiatives in developing and utilizing similar projects. To allow Chinese industries a better knowledge and use of Italy financed carbon funds, and further strengthen the cooperation between two nations in forging the clean development mechanism, the Chinese and Italian government jointly sponsored the meeting in Beijing, in an attempt to provide more information on Italy financed carbon funds to Chinese governmental agencies, industries, investors and research institutes.
The meeting will mark its part in promoting the cooperation between the two governments and industries in the fields of the clean development mechanism, China’s effective utilization of the mechanism and promoting a sustainable domestic development.
China-Brazil Resources Satellites
China and Brazil have inked an inter-governmental agreement on the joint development of 03 and 04 series earth resources satellites, said SUN Laiyan, China National Space Administrator at a users conference held on May 25, 2004. The full fledged development of 03 and 04 satellites marks the serialization of the joint ventures between China and Brazil. According to SUN, the new satellites, equipped with GPS system and planet sensors for an improved accurate geometric positioning, will have a prolonged work life up to 3 years.
Launched in October 1999 and October 2003 respectively, the 01 and 02 China-Brazil earth resource satellites, jointly financed and developed by China and Brazil, constitute China’s first generation of remote sounding satellite for earth resources applications. The two satellites have produced noticeable findings and huge socioeconomic benefits, with their data products being used in numerous areas, including agriculture, forestry, water resources, urban planning, environment protection, and disasters monitoring. For example, the 01 satellite provides great assistance in the Nanjing area’s crop yield prediction, and in the Taihu Lake’s ecological environment monitoring. Since its delivery in February 2004, the 02 satellite has impressed its operators in alleviating the ice run over the Yellow River and calculating the rice growing area in southern China. The China Resources Satellite Application Center has so far provided more than 14,000 frames of data products to some 160 domestic users. These data products have covered an area more than ten times that of China’s national territories.
Berlin Declaration Signed in Beijing
LU Yongxiang, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and CHEN Yiyu, President of the National Natural Science Foundation undersigned, on behalf of their respective organizations, a Berlin Declaration on May 24, 2004 in Beijing, in a concerted effort to promote worldwide network scientific resources sharing.
Under the initiative of the German Max Planck Society, the Berlin Declaration was originally undersigned on October 22, 2003 by a number of research institutes from Germany, France and Italy. Under a full name of the Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, the document appeals, using internet based human science and cultural assets, to create a free-of-charge and open scientific research environment for researchers and network users around the world. The Declaration also encourages research institutes to release more free scientific resources to network users, promoting internet based scientific exchanges and publishing”.
The Declaration states that, “establishing open access as a worthwhile procedure ideally requires the active commitment of each and every individual producer of scientific knowledge and holder of cultural heritage”. And “the authors and right holders grant to all users a free, irrevocable, and universal right of access to these contributions and allow their work to be used, reproduced, or disseminated in digital form”. Societies and research institutes, including the Max Planck Society, the France National Research Center, and the European Academy of Science, have already inked the Declaration.
China-German Pastureland Study
A project to study matter flows over the Inner Mongolian pastureland under selected grazing intensity, applied by a number of renowned German and Chinese universities and research institutes, has won the German Government’s grant. The German side will finance the study with a total sum of EURO 3 million. With the direct involvement of nearly 30 German scientists, the project was jointly launched on May 21, 2004 by Chinese and German collaborators in Beijing.
According to a briefing, China now only has 2 billion mu (1mu=0.0667ha.) of arable land, though its grassland and pastureland sits at an impressive 6 billion mu. Along with the economic development and population growth, irrational operation modes have resulted in the degradation of the nation’s pastureland ecological system, which becomes a threat to the daily life and even the survival of local residents. Chinese experts believe that, the joint project will lay a solid theoretical ground for improving scientific understanding of China’s pastureland ecosystem, and its protection and restoration.
China and UN Join Hands in Space
As a developing space nation, and a member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), China will strengthen its cooperation with the United Nations in space activities, supporting and being a part of the relevant initiatives made by the 3rd session of UNCOPUOS meeting, said SUN Laiyan, China National Space Administrator, at the 12th UN/ESA Workshop on Basic Space Science on May 24, 2004. SUN added that China will also strengthen its exchanges and cooperation with other countries in space science, technology and applications, and render its sequential contributions to human exploration and peaceful utilization of outer space, as well as to the civilization and advancement of human society. 89 representatives from 29 developed and developing nations attended the event.
During the 5-day workshop, participants discussed the following topics: astrophysics data system, archiving and information distribution; visual observatories; non-linear statistic dynamics and astrophysics; international space program capacity building; implementation and progress of the tripod project; new opportunities for astrophysics and new solar programs; and planet observation.
Sun Illuminates 230,000 Households
Thanks to a series of electricity supply projects launched by the Chinese government, targeting at the nation’s rural areas, including the State Electricity Supply for Rural Areas, Brightening Project, and foreign aided solar power projects, electricity eventually radiates its warmness and light into 230,000 rural households. With an investment over RMB 3 billion, solar energy projects have benefited the provinces, cities and autonomous regions in the west region, as well as some parts in the middle and east sections.
China’s renewable energy program, jointly financed by the State Development and Reform Commission, the Global Environment Funds, and the World Bank for an amount of USD 25.5 million, has so far extended power grids to 84,000 households dwelling in no-electricity areas in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai and Sichuan. The RMB 2.6 billion worth state electricity supply project brings electricity to 78,000 households in Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan and Shann’xi. Other electricity supply initiatives, including the RMB 40 million wroth Brightness Project, Tibet A’li Project, Silkroad Brightness Project financed by the Dutch government, China-Japan Green Energy Cooperation Project financed by the Japanese government and other solar power projects, have put an end to the no-electricity history of nearly 70,000 households dwelt in Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Hebei and Xinjiang.
Joint “Bluetooth” Project
The Dongruan Group recently launched a project to develop bluetooth protocol applications, a short range wireless connection technology. The bluetooth related products are expected for a market value equivalent to RMB 40 billion within a decade. Unfortunately the Group’s expertise in tapping up bluetooth applications sees noticeable gaps from its overseas counterparts. To address the difficulty, the Shenyang Municipal Bureau of Foreign Experts, not long ago, introduced 7 renowned overseas experts in wireless communication, computer and world marketing from Japan and Canada to assist the Group in developing bluetooth applications. Foreign experts and the group’s experts are currently working together on bluetooth products. Foreign experts’ experience is believed a valuable technical support for bluetooth software and hardware designing, testing, and verifying.
Oldest Symmetric Animal Found in China
CHEN Junyuan. a research fellow at the Nanjing Institute of Paleontology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his collaborators discovered a fossilized animal with symmetric structures in the Cambrian stratum of the Weng’an County, Guizhou Province. The finding, depicting an oldest symmetric animal fossil unearthed in the world dating back to 580 million year ago, was published in the June 3rd issue of the journal Science.
CHEN has named the ancient fossilized symmetric animal “Guizhou Spring Insect”. Though with an extremely tiny head of only 0.2 mm, the unearthed animal presents a symmetric structure with a pair of body chambers and sensing pits in pairs. The external, internal and middle embryo layers can be clearly seen in the fossilized animal. Researchers found, at the front end of the alimentary canal, an opening to the abdomen, immediately connecting to the throat that is surrounded by a multi-layer structure. Researchers say that the sophisticated structures have positioned the insect in an adult developmental stage. The discovery of the Guizhou Spring Insect marks an important phase in the history of evolution, advanced the history of fossilized symmetric animals to 40 million years before the Cambrian Age.
China’s Public Scientific Literacy Improves
Based on over a year’s investigations, the Chinese Association for Science and Technology has recently published the results derived from China’s public scientific literacy survey in 2003. As the fifth of its kind, the survey, covering more than 30 provinces, autonomous regions and cosmopolitan cities, shows that Chinese citizens’ scientific literacy has witnessed a steady improvement, though remaining lag behind the developing nations such as EU countries, the US and Japan.
Calculated under an internationally acknowledged scientific literacy index system and associated calculation methods, China’s public literacy level reached 1.98% in 2003, or 0.6% up, compared with a 1.4% registered in 2001. Comparing with 15 EU countries, the US and Japan in 2001, the Sweden ranks first with China the last, in terms of understanding of scientific knowledge. China also sits almost in the last place in understanding of scientific processes.
Bioproduct for Preventing Hair Loss
A biological immunity preparation for preventing chemotherapy caused hair loss, the first of its kind in China developed with an investment of RMB 10 million by the Sanyu Pharmaceutical Group in Zhejiang Province, has gained the grant of the Chinese Ministry of Health to be a cosmetic product for special purposes. Under a name of “Guan'aimeizhi”, the hair loss preventing liquid is biologically extracted, separated and purified from a core matter called B4, a special immune activating element. Having the functions of enhancing immunity, activating immune cells and promoting hair growth, the new product fills up a domestic blank in treating hair loss caused by chemotherapy. While applying for a national certificate for new drugs, the product has, following Germany, become the world’s second B4 based bioproduct to prevent chemotherapy caused hair loss.
Key Lithium Battery Technology
A technology to produce lithium battery’s cathode material, developed by Prof. WANG Chengyang at the Tianjin University, has recently passed the pilot testing for intermediate carbon pellets. The testing confirms its 200-ton annual production capacity. Comparing with its overseas counterparts, the Chinese developed proprietary technology demonstrates numerous merits, including higher quality, simpler techniques and lower production costs, enjoying an advanced international level.
According to a briefing, Tianjin, where the technology is developed, will boost its annual production capacity to 200 million assorted lithium cells, compound lithium batteries, and lithium batteries for electric bicycle applications. With an annual output of RMB 3 billion from lithium batteries, the city has become the largest green energy production base in the country.
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