On December 13, 2014, Science hosted its first overseas VIP Party in Beijing. Nearly 40 top experts and scholars from China Association for Science and Technology, National Health and Family Planning Commission of China, Chinese Academy of Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Tsinghua University, Peking University and Tianjin University (TJU) gathered together and communicated for cooperation. TJU President Li Jiajun attended and addressed the event as a specially invited guest.

After reviewing the establishment and development of the Beijing Office of Science, Bill Moran, Director of Global Collaboration, Operations and Custom Publishing, pointed out that Science attached great importance to cooperation with the scientific community in China. He said that China had made striking progress in scientific research and Chinese scientists had obtained stunning achievements as regards the quantity and quality of research papers they produced, especially the rising momentum of high-quality papers. Therefore, he hoped to strengthen cooperation with Chinese research institutes and universities, and facilitate promoting the accomplishments of Chinese scientific circle and publishing high-level papers on basic research of natural sciences in China.

In his speech, President Li expressed his appreciation to Mr. Bill Moran and Ms. Wu Ruolei for providing an opportunity for exchanges and communications. He emphasized that the special issue jointly published by TJU and Science would be circulated very soon, coincident with TJU’s 120th anniversary in 2015. This issue, revolving on how Chinese research addresses global science issues, represented the historical development and concepts of the first university in China from a distinctive perspective. Meanwhile, he expected to conduct academic cooperation of various forms with Science and promote collaboration with the institutes and universities present at this event, contributing further to the development of scientific research.