China: An Opportunity for Professional Cooperation

In the spring of 1998,1 met two representatives of the Chinese Instityte for Standardization of the Nuclear Industry at a joint meeting of the International Standards Organization Technical Committee 85 (ISO/TC 85)' and its working groups in Paris. According to Shou Yuemei, deputy director, the ISNI is responsible for monitoring international activities that pertain to standardization in the nuclear industry. In particular, Shou and her staff are responsible for maintaining a liaison with ISO/TC 85. I subsequently visited China with a delegation of statisticians organized by the Citizen Ambassador People-to-People Program under the auspices of the American Statistical Association. The primary purpose of that visit was to increase communication between statisticians in the United States and their professional counterparts in China. While in China, I visited the ISNI headquarters in Beijing at Shou's invitation. I found my hosts to be very interested in increased professional cooperation with colleagues in the Western world. This report is an outgrowth of my visit, and its primary purpose is to encourage increased professional contact with our Chinese colleagues through organizations such as the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management.