Dr. Shu Yinbiao, Vice-President of IEC and the then Chairman of the Board of State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), was elected as the 36th IEC President (2020-2022) at the closing ceremony of the 82nd IEC General Meeting in Busan, Republic of Korea, on October 26, 2018.

 

Right after the announcement, Dr. Shu, the first Chinese IEC President since its establishment 113 years ago,got thunderous applause from representatives of 171 IEC members.

 

Another big event for China in the standardization circle is that the 83rd IEC General Meeting is to be held in October in Shanghai, a well-known metropolis in East China.

 

Having joined the IEC family for more than six decades, China has made tremendous progresses in various international standardization activities, contributing more and more wisdom to the development of IEC.

 

Joining in the IEC family

 

Established in 1906, IEC is a world-leading organization for the development of international standards for electrical, electronic and related technologies to solve the issues of electrical safety and electrotechnical product standardization.

 

With the continuous growth and expansion of IEC, China developed relations with IEC by officially joining in the IEC in 1957. China has gradually strengthened its participation in IEC with greater width and depth, as electrical capability and electrical technologies advanced rapidly in the country.

 

Reviewing the historical course of China's participation in IEC, there are many remarkable progresses especially in the recent 30 years. For instance, China organized the 54th and 66th IEC General Meetings in 1990 and 2002 respectively; China assumed the first Secretariat of the IEC technical committees in 2003; later, China became a permanent member of the Council Board (CB), Standardization Management Board (SMB) and Conformity Assessment Board (CAB), playing a crucial role in the IEC.

 

Entering the 21st century, the world’s first ultra-high voltage (UHV) AC and DC projects have been launched in China. The global leading technologies of big power grid operation and control have been developed in China, as advanced smart grid technologies have been widely applied in the country. As a result, China has played an indispensable role in the technical work of IEC with more and more Chinese experts standing out in the world electrotechnical field.

 

Prior to this, China has followed the steps of developed countries for a long time. Putting a lot of efforts into research and development of technologies in the past two decades, the country has realized big achievements in the innovation of power technology and research on supporting equipment, according to Chen Weijiang, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Deputy Chief Engineer of SGCC.

 

The election of Dr. Shu as the future helmsman of IEC, is an important milestone in the history of electrical power development in China, and a key breakthrough in China’s contribution to the international electrotechnical standardization, Chen further explained.

 

Contributing to international standardization

 

In the traditional industrial fields, international standards are mainly developed by developed countries such as the U.S., Germany and Japan; while in the emerging industrial fields such as highspeed railway, nuclear power, UHV and clean energy, China has established relatively complete standards systems with relevant standardization work on a par with developed countries.

 

China has not only shouldered more responsibilities among all the IEC members, but also transformed itself from a standard implementer to a standard developer. Experts from other countries have a favourable attitude to the technical standards proposed by SGCC. It indicated that China has made positive contributions to international cooperation, playing a key role in the development of green and low-carbon energy, according to Frans Vreeswijk, Secretary General and CEO of IEC.

 

In addition, China have assumed 10 secretariats of IEC technical committees, with Chinese experts serving as Chairs and Vice-Chairs of 13 IEC TCs and SCs. China now has participated in 99 percent of the IEC technical committees as P member. More than 2,000 Chinese experts from government, enterprises and research institutes have registered in the IEC, who have submitted proposals and promoted the publication of 186 IEC international standards by the end of 2018 in the fields including smart cities, intelligent manufacturing, household appliances and information technology, making great contributions to the international standards system in IEC.

 

China has also become one of the most active countries participating in the international standardization activities of IEC. The proposals of international standards submitted by Chinese experts have increased from one in a few years to more than 40 annually. Meanwhile, more Chinese experts are involved in the technical management work of IEC.

 

Liu Junwei, Xiao Han and Bo Yumin, officials from SAMR, were elected as a member of the CB, SMB and CAB of IEC respectively in 2018. And Li Yaping, Chen Bo and Ma Dejun have won the IEC Thomas Edison Award in 2012, 2015 and 2018 respectively, and dozens of Chinese experts have received the IEC 1906 Award. In addition, a total of 20 young experts have been elected as IEC Young Professionals since the IEC Young Professionals Programme was launched in 2010.

 

In a nutshell, China has experienced a rapid development period, making significant contributions to the international standardization work. According to the statistics in 2018, since the 18th CPC National Congress held in November 2012, the ISO and IEC standards developed with the leading role of China have soared from 155 to 506 with an increase of 2.3 times; the number of Chairs and Vice-Chairs in ISO and IEC technical bodies undertaken by Chinese experts has nearly doubled, increasing from 35 to 69; and the Secretariats assumed by China have increased from 60 to 88. All these figures reflect the good trends and promising future of China's international standardization work.

 

More Chinese wisdom expected

 

Honor and responsibility coexist. "The election of Dr. Shu as IEC President is not only a supreme honor granted by the international electrotechnical field but also an expectation of the international community for more Chinese wisdom and contributions," SAMR Vice-Minister and SAC Administrator Tian Shihong said.

 

Frans Vreeswijk also agreed that Dr. Shu would promote a series of reforms concerning the key plans of IEC, raising the people’s awareness about international standards and ensuring everybody understand the importance and value of standards and conformity assessment.

 

China will embrace a new stage by taking it as a turning point, more proactively participating in the development of strategies, policies and rules of IEC, and contributing to the organizational management and sustainable development of IEC.

 

Meanwhile, China will upgrade its own standardization and conformity assessment work and improve the consistency between the Chinese standards system and advanced international standards system, so as to better integrate with the global economic system and boost global economic growth.

 

The 83rd IEC General Meeting will be held in Shanghai from October 21 to 25, which is cosponsored by SAMR, SAC, CNCA, Municipal Government of Shanghai, SGCC and China Huaneng Group, etc. Eight working groups have been established to ensure smooth preparation work.

 

The IEC General Meeting, an annual gathering of the IEC family, is the highest-level event featuring long time, large scale and various activities. The event is a grand occasion for the scientific and technological field in China, providing a key platform and opportunity for presenting China's manufacturing technologies and innovations.

 

This year's event is designed to drive more industries and enterprises to get a deep understanding of IEC, and actively participate in its various activities, making joint efforts to give play to the role of standardization in realizing sustainable development and establishing a community with shared future for mankind.

 

The event is of great significance in enlarging standardization openness and cooperation, promoting high-quality economic growth, strengthening international standards collaboration in the electrical and electronic field, and driving the sustainable development of IEC international standardization system, according to Tian Shihong.

 

Taking the historical opportunity, China will push the new development of standardization work in an all-round way, which includes implementing standardization strategies, enhancing standards to the international level, accelerating standards innovation and actively participating in international standardization governance.

 

Despite of obstacles and challenges ahead, we won't shrink back, Dr. Shu said. We will work together to maintain wise leadership of IEC, making the organization more transparent, sustainable. We have the confidence to build a strong IEC, shaping a safer, brighter future, said Dr. Shu in his speech after being elected as IEC President.