OVERSEAS VISIT REPORT
3RD AUSTRALIA-CHINA
JOINT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION (JSTC) MEETING
11 - 18 OCTOBER 1997 - BEIJING, CHINA
VINCENT LYNE
BACKGROUND
I accompanied David Jupp (Science
Coordinator, CSIRO Earth Observation Centre) to the 3rd
Australia-China Joint Science and Technical Commission meeting
held in Beijing, China from 12 - 16 October, in place of John
Parslow who had other meeting commitments. The JSTC meetings are
held every three years to coordinate collaborative research activities
between the respective countries. This was the third meeting where
activities of the previous triennium were reviewed and proposals
for continuing and new activities for the next triennium were
considered. My responsibilities for this meeting were to represent
the Australian interests in ocean color remote sensing and application
to fisheries. As this was the first time the new marine activities
were to be considered I took along visual material and handouts
outlining the activities of our Division and our marine remote
sensing projects. David Jupp, Tony Milne and myself were the remote
sensing representatives amongst the Australian delegation of about
21 experts. Russell Reichelt from the Australian Institute of
Marine Science represented Australian oceanography as part of
the delegation of 11 dignitaries which was headed by John Stocker
(stepping in place of Senator McGauran). The Chinese delegation
was headed by Mr Li Xueyong, Vice Minister of the State Science
and Technology Commission (SSTC) and widely regarded as an astute
diplomat.
We arrived in Beijing very late on the night of the 12 October to find the city covered in a smog of gritty dust which restricted visibility down to a couple of blocks. The morning of the first day was spent listening to speeches from the dignitaries including the Australian Ambassador Richard Smith and Russell Reichelt who talked of the work at AIMS and CSIRO DMR. Overall I sensed a keen willingness on both sides towards collaborative projects and was staggered by the scale of scientific effort in China. Figures such as 19 million science and technology personnel and over 5800 research institutes are difficult to comprehend!
SSTC is the main government agency (reporting to the State Council) responsible for national science and technology activities. One such organisation under this commission is the State Oceanographic Administration (SOA) which is responsible for national marine policies and research activities. There are 3 Institutes and 45 vessels under the charge of SOA which conducts research in national and international waters - down to Antarctica. It is involved in bilateral activities with a number of nations (US, Japan, Korea, France and Germany) but much of its work deals with general surveys of the coastal zone and islands with emerging interests in deep sea exploration (manganese nodules, offshore oil & gas), automated monitoring, biotechnology and remote sensing. Another relevant agency is the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) which is a specialised organisation under SSTC. It too is a large organisation with some 600 senior scientists and engineers and many other employees. An extensive set of activities are conducted ranging from policy formulation, regulation enforcement, launching satellites, to the use of Geographic Information Systems for monitoring resources. In all cases, the link between policies and research is very tight, and in cases such as the SOA, all activities are controlled (or implemented) from within the agency itself - unlike Australian organisations where research agencies are not as tightly controlled by the policy agencies.
The central government in China (Social Council) maintains a keen interest in science, technology and education. It plays an active role by initiating national policies in this area. One of these is the so-called 863 Program announced in March 1986 (hence 863). Under the Marine Technology component of this program are subcomponents dealing with:
ACTIVITIES
The evening of the 13 October was spent with representatives of potential collaborating agencies and we were joined by Russell Reichelt at the invitation of David Jupp. Professor Wu Guoxiang (Director, National Remote Sensing Centre of China) presented the 863 program to which both myself and Russell Reichelt responded suggesting that the list of programs offered extensive opportunities for collaboration. The list of collaborative activities were to be further developed between Mr Tang Junwu myself and Russell Reichelt during a sight-seeing tour the next day whilst other delegates accompanied John Stocker for a tour of the Centre for Space Science Applied Research. The sight-seeing was restricted to the morning of the 14 October to allow Russell to leave for the airport after lunch (a Peking Duck banquet no less). Tang proved to be quite a historian and provided an informative tour of the Forbidden City. We defined 3 broad areas of collaboration:
The morning of the 15 October was spent with presentations by the participants. I presented a general overview of remote sensing activities in CSIRO, our collaborative activities with other Australian organisations on ocean color and application to fisheries oceanography, work on satellite altimeter by John Wilkin, Ken Ridgway and their group and Ian Barton's work on the ATSR project. The Australian presentations were well received and there was unanimous agreement on developing further collaborative projects on ocean color, fisheries applications and monitoring instruments. In the afternoon, John Stocker joined the group for a debrief. Tony Milne and myself then accompanied John Stocker for a tour of the remote sensing activities including a trip to the meteorological agency. Much of the remote sensing work is based on AVHRR for vegetation mapping and monitoring. There were some applications of radar remote sensing (soil moisture, crop monitoring and archaeology). At the meteorological agency we were briefed on the development and launch of the Fengyun 1 and 1B satellites and plans for the HY-1 satellite (launch in 1999) which will have ocean color, infrared and near-infrared channels as well as a CCD camera with 3 visible bands. David Jupp drafted the group's report which was circulated during the dinner banquet and Peking Opera hosted by the National Remote Sensing Centre of China. We were each presented with a small gift (wooden frame watch and pen in a wooden case).
The last day of the meeting was spent listening to presentations of project reports and proposals for collaborative research by the expert groups. The final phase of the meeting was to decide on the status of the 3 categories of proposals: group A proposals were those which had been agreed to by both sides and which had assured funding, group B proposals were those agreed to but which required collaborating parties to seek project funding (these projects generally had funds for exchange visits), and group C proposals were those where some contact between researchers had taken place and an organisation had submitted an expression of interest in collaborating. There was little time for this phase of the meeting which nearly finished the group B proposals and hadn't begun to deliberate the numerous group C proposals. Most the group B proposals were rejected as many of them did not have representatives at the meeting to speak up for the project. One of the exceptions here was the project involving AIMS on muddy sediments which was supported by Frank Larkins. For the remote sensing projects on ocean color and fisheries, the existing project on ocean color remote sensing was expanded to include some fisheries application and was listed under group A. The collaborating agencies there are NRSCC (lead agency), Institute of Ocean Technology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology and the Shanghai Institute of Fisheries, the Australian counterparts are members of the Australian Ocean Color Working Group, in particular CSIRO DMR, AIMS and Curtin University. In the group B category a project was listed on developing further collaboration in the marine area - mainly instrumentation development, information systems and the analysis and assimilation of altimeter data. This project was approved during the meeting.
In summarising, the potential for collaborating with Chinese organisations is extensive. The Chinese counterparts are keen on establishing joint research projects. With the launch of the Fengyun satellites, there are clearly experienced at manufacturing high-tech equipment, the capabilities of which are continually improving. What Australian researchers can provide are advances in monitoring, data processing, modelling and information processing for managing fisheries resources. Whilst our market for advanced monitoring is limited, this is not the case in China which is encouraging joint development, or marketing, of advanced monitoring equipment in China's much larger market. In terms of developing the collaboration, the opportunity to take part in the Australian delegation to visit China will provide a good start to meeting potential collaborating organisations and their scientists. What is unclear at this point in time are the avenues for funding future collaboration. There are a number of opportunities for funding the exchange visits, which we should take full advantage of as genuine collaboration may take a number of face-to-face visits to establish. Agreement of collaboration under the JSTC banner will provide official standing for the project(s) and will facilitate application for funding under a number of government-funded projects. We should be wary that whilst organisations in China may conduct tasks ranging from policy formulation, research and policy enforcement, there are still differing views between organisations on the most appropriate research. Such issues must be taken into consideration in formulating joint projects, and this only be done through an intimate knowledge of the various organisations, their charter, activities and most importantly, the key administrative and research staff. As a research activity, remote sensing is seen as both a high-tech application as well as an invaluable tool in land use management and monitoring. The marine activities are by comparison, to the terrestrial, less well developed and offer a great opportunity for Australia to make a substantial contribution.