On June 1, the second national congress of the Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA), also known as Overseas-educated Scholars Association of China, was grandly held in Beijing. The meeting elected the leadership of the 9th Council. Cao Jinbin, dean of the School of Space and Earth Sciences at Beihang University and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was elected vice president of the 9th Council, and Professor Liu Yuzhou from the School of Chemistry was elected a council member.

On June 2, Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, met with members of the 9th Board of Directors of the WRSA and delegates attending the WRSA's second national congress in Beijing. Cao Jinbin attended the meeting as a member of the new Board of Directors.

Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, meets with members of the 9th Board of Directors of the WRSA, June 2, 2026. [Photo by Yao Dawei, Xinhua News Agency]

The WRSA is a people's organization led by the Communist Party of China, voluntarily formed by returned overseas scholars as its main body, and characterized by mass participation, high intellectuality, and united front nature. It serves as the Party's bridge and bond for connecting with overseas scholars, the Party and government's assistant in the work of overseas scholars, and a home for the vast number of overseas scholars. Since its establishment in 1913, the WRSA has always upheld the banner of "studying abroad to serve the country." In 2003, it added the name "China Overseas-educated Scholars Association." Over the years, it has fully leveraged its strengths as a "talent pool for serving the country, a think tank for policy advice, and a vital force for people-to-people diplomacy," widely gathering high-level overseas scholars to devote themselves to the great cause of building a strong nation and national rejuvenation.

Cao Jinbin, academician of the CAS and IAA (International Academy of Astronautics), and dean of the School of Space and Earth Sciences at Beihang University, served as the president of the 8th Council of the WRSA France-Belgium Branch and is now vice president of the 9th Council of the WRSA. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toulouse (formerly known as Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier) in France in 1996.

Cao has long been engaged in research on magnetospheric physics and space exploration technologies, achieving groundbreaking results in magnetospheric dynamics, non-thermal escape of planetary atmospheres, and space magnetic field wave detection. He served as vice chairman of the scientific working committee for the Double Star Program, a China-Europe collaborative Earth space exploration mission, making significant contributions to its approval and successful implementation. As the chief scientist of China's first space-borne low-frequency electromagnetic wave detector, he filled a domestic gap in the space exploration in this field and achieved a breakthrough in China's space-based magnetic field wave detection. Cao Jinbin has received numerous international honors, including the Laurels for Team Achievement Award from the IAA, demonstrating his prominent international influence.

Under his leadership, the France-Belgium Branch fully leveraged the talent advantages and professional expertise of those who studied in France and Belgium, actively built platforms for industry-university-research collaboration, facilitated the alignment of advanced international technologies and management experience with domestic needs, and continuously deepened exchanges and cooperation with France and Belgium in the fields of science, technology, culture, and economy, contributing to high-level self-reliance in science and technology. His election as vice president is not only recognition of his outstanding achievements in serving national strategies as dean of the School of Space and Earth Sciences but also an acknowledgment of his contributions to uniting overseas scholars and promoting people-to-people scientific and educational exchanges between China, France, and Belgium during his tenure as president of the France-Belgium Branch.

Liu Yuzhou is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Chemistry, Beihang University. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Tsinghua University and obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from New York University in 2011. In 2014, he was selected for the National Young Talent Program. He has published numerous high-level papers in top international journals such as Science, Nature Communications, and JACS, and holds over 40 domestic and international patents. In recent years, he has focused on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and new materials, establishing an intelligent high-throughput R&D platform, co-authoring Beijing's development plan for AI + new materials, and winning multiple scientific innovation awards. Through the platform of the WRSA, Liu Yuzhou has fully leveraged his overseas study experience and industrial resources, organizing academic seminars on the integration of AI and advanced materials, actively sharing cutting-edge achievements in AI-driven material innovation, promoting the innovative development of the AI + materials industry, and contributing to the efforts of overseas scholars to serve national high-level technological self-reliance.

The Beihang University Party Committee has consistently placed great emphasis on overseas talent recruitment. The university insists on attracting global high-end talent and leverages the advantages of its three campuses in Beijing and Hangzhou to establish the International Institute for Interdisciplinary and Frontiers. Focusing on major national needs and international interdisciplinary frontiers, it attracts outstanding talent with high-quality resources and policy support. To date, 270 national-level overseas talents are working at the university, accounting for 42% of the university's total national-level talent.

Editor: Liu Tingting