On May 19, 2008, Prof. Shen Weqing, Vice President of NSFC, met with the delegation headed by Prof. Akira Fujishima, Director-General of China Research Center, Japan Science and Technology (JST). Prof. Fujishima is also the Chairman of Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology, Japan and Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences selected in 2003.

Prof. Shen firstly welcomed Prof. Fujishima and his delegation, and expressed a sincere thanks to Japanese government and people for the timely support towards the “5.12” earthquake in Sichuan. Then Prof. Shen praised highly the cooperation between NSFC and JST and valued it as a very successful one. In the last 4 years, both sides jointly supported 18 projects with a total funding of 20 million RMB from NSFC. Prof. Chang Qing from the Bureau of International Cooperation of NSFC briefed the profile and current stage of NSFC to the guests. In a positive response, the JST delegation made an introduction to the three major tasks of the China Research Center this year, and expressed their wish to get support from NSFC. The major tasks obtained Prof. Shen’s recognition on their importance and some constructive suggestions on the implementation.

NSFC and JST have seen more frequent high-level communication since the establishment of the Chinese Research Center in 2006. Prof. Chen Yiyu, President of NSFC, led a delegation to attend the opening ceremony of the Center in Tokyo in 2006. Prof. Shen led a delegation to attend the Symposium of the Japan-China Collaboration of Research and Development organized by the Center in 2007. Prof. Yao Jiannian, Vice President of NSFC, attended the Advisory Committee meeting of the Center on March 2008.