Reporter Yang Peiju

On October 26～30， 2015， the 34th International Organization for Standardization of Ship and Marine Technical Committee (ISO/TC8)plenary meeting was held in St. Petersburg， Russia.Nearly 80 delegates from nations including China， the United States， Russia， Germany， Japan， South Korea，Britain， Denmark， Italy attended the meeting. At the end of the meeting， the delegates stood up and reviewed the outstanding contributions chairman Charles Piersall made in the past 21 years with the piano music “vows of love”，the new chair Li Yanqing gave good wishes on behalf of TC8 management. The hand-shaking moment means that China has of fi cially took over the helm of ISO/TC8 from the United States. The transition to the new leader was successfully completed and a new era was initiated.

There is no doubt that the successful election of Li Yanqing is not only the recognition of his efforts， but also the recognition by the 51 member states of the committee of China’s in fl uence， which is illustrated by the talent and capability of Chinese experts， especially their attitude and capability in doing technical work，the open mind of China and the state of engaging in international work that leads to the recognition of foreign experts of the inclusiveness and strictness of Chinese experts in undertaking organization work， as well as by the rapid development of China in recent years in shipping and shipbuilding which fully showcased the capability of a maritime power and its contributions to the international committee.

As the person in question， Li Yanqing undoubtedly had more feelings. He said that according to his experience，he deeply felt that if China want to play an active and important role in the relevant international organizations，more efforts should be made in the two aspects: the first is that there should be strategic planning at the national and industry level to support and encourage more Chinese to undertake the leadership of international organizations； the second is that the reservation of talents should be strengthened， otherwise the opportunity would be missed even if there is one.

Li Yanqing told reporters that over the past 8 years，he had developed from learning expert knowledge and regulations of international games to participating and influencing the strategic direction of future standards； from recommending experts to understand and participate in ISO work to putting forward several international standard projects with China as the leading force； from protecting the interests of China in IC8 to striving to establish new technical sub-committees with China as the main force. It should be said that China has achieved tangible development in the international standardization work in ship and marine technology and the contribution and influence of Chinese shipbuilding industry to the development of international standards is increasing day by day.