16th China-U.S. Joint Commission Meeting on S&T Cooperation was held in Beijing on November 3, 2016. The meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Wan Gang, China’s Minister of Science and Technology, and Dr. John P. Holdren, Assistant to the U.S. President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. On the Chinese side, Vice Minister Yin Hejun as well as representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Transport, National Health and Family Planning Commission, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Earthquake Administration, China Meteorological Administration, National Natural Science Foundation, Chinese Embassy in the U.S. attended the meeting. On the U.S. side, representatives from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Department of State, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Geological Survey as well as the U.S. Embassy in China were present at the meeting. 
   
Representatives on both sides made candid exchanges of ideas and had discussions to deepen cooperation in science, technology and healthcare to pursue their shared climate and environmental goals and to expand future cooperation. They reached consensus to take advantage of other inter agency mechanisms, such as the China-U.S. S&T Executive Secretaries Meeting and the S&T pillar Meeting of China-U.S. High-level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, to further advance S&T cooperation.
   
China-U.S. Joint Commission Meeting on S&T Cooperation was established in accordance with the U.S.-China Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology, signed in January 1979 by then Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping and then U.S. President Jimmy Carter in the White House. The joint commission meeting is mandated to plan, guide and coordinate bilateral S&T cooperation. The first joint commission meeting was held in January 1980 in Beijing. Since then the joint commission meeting is held biennially and alternatively in both countries. The agreement and the joint commission meeting have played a strong role in pushing S&T exchange and cooperation between the two countries and made positive contributions to bilateral ties and people’s livelihood.