A prominent engineer warned on Thursday that the country's top honorary organization of engineering science and technology should not become a "celebrity club" full of academicians who simultaneously hold high official posts.

Xie Lili, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE),said, "I'm totally against the trend that the CAE is slipping to a celebrity club which is generous to grant its membership to ranking officials and business VIPs."

"Some CAE members are pursuing high offices while some influential guys in the official establishment are trying hard to get member cards to the academy," said Xie, who formerly chaired the Institute of Engineering Mechanics at the China Earthquake Administration.

"Some government officials see CAE membership as extra credential of themselves while some dishonest CAE members are paid off for providing preferred judgment," Xie said, citing that such deeds have undermined the moral standards of the science community.

"It's true that the CAE has provided many good advices to the state decision-makers," he said, "but our academy also failed to remind the top authorities of the importance of strict discipline to scientific research and development."

"Any proven misconduct should automatically lead to the denial of candidacy to the CAE membership for anyone involved," Xie said.

Xie was among the 500 CAE members who are enthusiastic about discussing more transparent procedures in electing new members. Most CAE members lambasted some research institutes or higher-learning institutions for their excessive promotion for their own candidates for CAE elections.

Some organizations even designed "roadmaps" for promoting their researchers to become CAE members, some scientists warned.

Statistics showed that in the 2005 election, 29 candidates out of the total 42 eligible ones competing for CAE seats in the Division of Engineering Administration were ranking officials or chief executive officers of key state-owned companies. In 2003, 63 percent of the total 54 candidates were from government departments or business organizations.

As counterpart of the CAE in natural sciences research, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) also pays great attention to bettering its members selection mechanism. In April, the CAS invited representatives from the world's most preeminent science academies to Beijing, to discuss how to better the system of honorary academies.

CAS President Lu Yongxiang, who is also a CAE member, said, "Any individual member should not trade the collective honor of the academy for their personal benefits, and we should be more self-disciplined."

((Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2006)