Senior CPC official pledges to draw overseas talents

China will step up its efforts to absorb more high-level overseas Chinese talents to serve their motherland, said a senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Wednesday in Beijing.

Citing the overseas students as invaluable resources, the official said governments at all levels were required to create a favorable environment for their return.

He Guoqiang, a member of the Political Bureau and head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the remark while meeting with a Chinese scientist who won a prestigious honor in the United States.

Dr. Wang Xiaodong was elected member of the National Academy ofScience (NAS) of the United States in April, one of the highest honors attainable by American scientists. Wang was awarded on the basis of his remarkable contribution to the biochemical studies ofcell death, a phenomenon in which cells activate a self-destruction program.

The 41-year-old scientist was also appointed director-general of the China National Institute of Biological Science (NIBS) in May 2003.

He expressed congratulations on Wang's membership in the NAS and his position at the NIBS, and briefed him on domestic personnel situations.