President Yongxiang Lu Met Mr. Arima, Senator of Japan

On September 8, Prof. Yongxiang Lu, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress and President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences warmly received Mr. Arima, Senator and the former Minister of Culture, Science and Education of Japan. They exchanged views on the reform of science and technology system, the establishment of science and technology policies, especially the mid and long term science and technology planning of the two countries.

Mr. Arima used to be the President of University of Tokyo and Director of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research of Japan. During his term as a Minister and Senator, Mr. Arima has actively participated in the establishment of the first and second science basic plan of Japan, the merge of the Japanese Ministry of Culture and Education and the Science and Technology Agency, and conversion of Japan's national universities and national institutes into independent administrative institutions.

President Lu Met President of German Research Foundation

CAS President Yongxiang Lu met on Sept 19 with German Research Foundation (DFG) President Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, who was visiting China in the entourage of German President Johannes Rau.

During the meeting, President Lu proposed cooperation between National Natural Science Foundation of China, DFG and CAS in jointly establishing a research team to conduct interdisciplinary, frontier or mega-science studies. The two sides agreed to hold a workshop on bionics in 2004.