On March 28, SHANG Yong, Vice Minister of Science and Technology met, in the office building of Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), with the delegation led by Dr. Shirley A. Jackson, Chairman of AAAS and President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Vice Minister SHANG briefed the visiting American guests on the development of human resources for science and technology in China and the mission of MOST, which include the creation of a good policy environment to encourage research personnel in innovation and promote extensive application of scientific and technological achievements for improvement of people's living standard and health level. Vice Minister SHANG remarked that MOST, as the administrative authority of the whole country for international scientific and technological cooperation encourages Chinese research institutes, universities and enterprises to cooperate with American partners in various ways at both the official level and civil level on the basis of mutual benefit, respect and trust, besides acting on equal footing. Vice Minister SHANG also put forward suggestions on the fields of mutual cooperation.

President Jackson made an account of what the AAAS had done to promote international scientific and technological communication, improve public awareness of science and technology and prompt the American government to relax its restrictions on issuing American visa to foreign scientific and technological personnel and foreign students. President Jackson indicated taking active follow-up actions to implement the proposal for mutual cooperation.

The Chinese participants also briefed the Americans on their research in the field of nanometer technology and the policies and statutes of the Chinese government on stem cell study. The scientists from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute gave a brief account on the research and development activities of the Institute in the fields of nanometer and new energy and the newly established biotechnology and interdisciplinary research center. Both sides exchanged ideas on future cooperation.

AAAS (http://www.aaas.org/) as the world’s largest non-profit science and technology organization was established in 1848. It has been dedicated to the promotion of academic exchanges, scientific education and the development of scientific and technological human resources and infrastructures and has been offering consultation and advice to the American Government on policies concerning science and technology. There are 262 associations under AAAS with 10 million members. AAAS also publishes the famous academic journal “Science”. In August 2004, AAAS organized a delegation on behalf of the US to participate in the Third APEC Youth Science Festival in Beijing sponsored by MOST.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (http://www.rpi.edu/) is a famous American polytechnic institute for scientific research. It is leading the world in many fields of scientific research and is very experienced in engineering technology, management education and training. During this visit, Dr. Jackson also visited the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Association for Science and Technology.