1017 



letter, earned by Dr. George Wald, an American scientist visiting 

 in China, to the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences listing 

 scientific meetings scheduled in the United States that might be of 

 interest to the Cliinese. 



However, the Committee reported difficulty in achieving its objec- 

 tives. For instance, in 1969 the Foreign Secretary stated: 



The Committee on Scholarly Communications with Mainland China con- 

 tinues unsuccessfuU3r to seek means to develop U.S. scientific and other scholarly 

 exchanges with the scientists of the People's Republic of China and their in- 

 stitutions. ^^^ 



Furthermore, it was reported that the Chinese never answered 

 Handler's letter.*^^ Several reports attributed the lack of direct 

 Chinese response to the absence of formal, normalized diplomatic 

 relations between the two countries. For example. 



The Chinese have insisted so far that they will not begin formal exchanges even 

 with the non-governmental National Academy of Sciences, as long as there are 

 U.S.-Taiwanese scientific relations. ^^* 



Several other activities, portending the shape and thrust of future 

 scientific exchange, occurred simultaneously with these overtures to 

 systematize exchanges. The most important was the commencement 

 of a series of privateh^ arranged visits between Chinese and American 

 scientific and technical personnel. 



During the period 1971-1972, two Chmese scientific delegations 

 visited the United States. The first, a group consisting of 11 phj-sicians 

 representing the Chinese Medical Association, visited the United 

 States during October and November 1972 on invitation from the 

 President of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of 

 Sciences. The second, a 7-member multidisciplinary group represent- 

 ing the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Scientific and Teclinical 

 Association, toured the United States during November and December 

 1972 as guests of the Federation of American Scientists and the Com- 

 mittee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic 

 of China. *^^ Three additional delegations, totaling approxunately 30 

 additional Chinese scientists, engineers, and physicians ^dsited the 

 United States during early 1973.*^^ 



During the 1971-1972 period, according to the CSCPRC, ap- 

 proximately 120 nonofficial American scientific and technical per- 

 sonnel participated in scholarly visits to China. Most of these persons 

 were exchanged as individuals supported neither by the CSCPRC 

 nor by any other group. Social scientists and scholars in the humanities 

 comprised approximately two-fifths of the group, with the rest evenly 

 divided among phj^sical, engineering, medical, and biological scien- 

 tists. Approximately two fifths of the American visitors were of 

 Chinese descent.^" A few of the American visitors were permitted to 

 stay on in China for longer visits, totaling a maximum of 3-4 months; 

 most of these were Chinese-Americans.^"* 



<" "Annual Report of the Foreign Secretary to the National Academy of Sciences," April 28, 1969, op. 

 cit., p. 9. 

 "3 Young, op. cit. (February 26, 1972). 

 <'< Cohn (January 24, 1972), op. cit., p. A-1. 



<" "Scholarly Exchange with the People's Republic of China, 1971-1972," op. cit., p. 2. 

 "8 "U.S. -China Scientific Exchange to Widen," Chemical and Engineering News 51 (July 9, 1973), p. 11. 

 <" "Scholarly Exchange with the People's Republic of China, 1971-1972," op. cit., pp. 2-3. 

 «8 Interview, CSCPRC, July 1973. 



