On March 28, a delegation led by Mr. FANG Shouen, Secretary of the CPC Committee of Tongji University, and Mr. CHEN Jie, President of Tongji University, met and had an informal discussion with Mr. YING Yong, Secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee. 
Mr. FANG Shouen discussing with Mr. YING Yong
Mr. YING Yong extended his cordial welcome to Mr. FANG Shouen and Mr. CHEN Jie for coming to Hubei Province to beef up province-university cooperation. Acclaiming the deep ties and close friendship between Hubei Province and Tongji University, he mentioned that the medical and surveying disciplines of Tongji University were once relocated to Wuhan City and are now shoring up the competitive edge of Hubei Province in science and education after years of construction and development, and that the time-honored cooperation and close exchanges between Tongji University and Hubei Province have made positive contributions to the socioeconomic development of Hubei Province. He said that the people of Hubei will always bear in mind how Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University lent a helping hand to Hubei by sending its medical staff to join the first Shanghai medical aid team to Wuhan during the outbreak last year. As a top-ranking province in science and education, he said, Hubei is ratcheting up its drive to build itself into a province powerful in science and technology by turning Wuhan into a nationally influential science and technology innovation hub and by stepping up the construction of Donghu National Comprehensive Science Center, with 7 Hubei-based laboratories and a host of big science installations having been erected and the construction of Optics Valley Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, centered by the Donghu Science City, being carried out in full swing. He added that Hubei will give further play to its strengths in traditional industries and strategic emerging industries such as optical communications, integrated circuits, display panels, terminals and IoT, bring together research resources, optimize its innovation eco-system, forge an innovation value chain underlain by the industrial and supply chains, fortify the industrial and supply chains with the innovation value chain, and pool together more top-notch talents through different projects and platforms, thereby effectively transforming Hubei's advantaged science and education resources into its key strengths in innovation, human resources and socioeconomic development. Citing the in-depth strategic cooperation with prestigious universities, including Tongji University, as an important move for Hubei to build itself into a province strong in science and technology, he hailed the "Cluster Initiative on Knowledge Economy Circle around Tongji University" as a stellar example for Hubei to follow in deepening the integration of industry, university and research, and voiced his hope that the two sides should continue strengthening cooperation in talent fostering, discipline construction and industrial development, thereby jointly contributing to China's self-reliance in science and technology.
Participants at the discussion
After introducing the development history, disciplinary development and big science installations of Tongji University, Mr. FANG Shouen and Mr. CHEN Jie said that Tongji University and Hubei Province are "relatives" who have carried out long-term and extensive cooperation in the spheres of urban planning, technological innovation and talent exchanges, and that Tongji University will further harness its academic strengths in strengthening the cooperation with Hubei in areas such as Yangtze River protection, rural revitalization and urban renewal, thereby better serving the socioeconomic development of Hubei.
The discussion was also attended by: XIAO Juhua, Deputy Governor of Hubei Province; DONG Weimin, Secretary-General of CPC Hubei Provincial Committee; WU Qinghua, Deputy Secretary-General of CPC Hubei Provincial Committee and Director of the Policy Research Office; DING Limin, Deputy Secretary-General of CPC Hubei Provincial Committee; TAO Hong, Director-General of Hubei Provincial Department of Education; GU Xianglin and TONG Xiaohua, Vice President of Tongji University; and WU Zhiqiang, Member of Chinse Academy of Engineering.
