They came from the United States, Russia, China, Japan, Canada, Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Peru, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The Association of Round-Pacific Universities (ARPU) was set up in June 1997 and its members were 34 universities of the member countries and regions of the APEC, the Asian and Pacific Economic Cooperation.

Its members in China include Peking University, Qinghua University, Fudan University and the Chinese University of Science and Technology from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan University in Taiwan and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

It was the first time that the annual meeting was held in China. The meeting will discuss global science and technology of the 21st century and online education in the 21st century.

(People's Daily 06/22/2001)