The Biggest Asterisk in the IUB
William J. Whelan · IUBMB Life · 2001
August and September 1982 proved to be a very hectic time for me and the affairs of the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB, now IUBMB).I was standing down after 9 years as General Secretary.The IUB was holding its triennial Congress, the 12th in the series, and the rst to be held in Australia, in Perth.The Union's governing body, the General Assembly, meets on the occasion of the Congresses and I had to make the preparations, which were rather lengthy, because it was proposed to change the governance of the Union to streamline it.This meant holding not one, but two, General Assemblies.Perth would also mark the rst General Assembly since the successful conclusion of the negotiations to admit both mainland China and Taiwan to membership of the IUB.The mainland had withdrawn in 1965 in protest against the admission of Taiwan.But in 1979 they had applied to rejoin, initially with the condition that Taiwan be expelled, but we found a formula whereby "for the time being" the IUB was to have two Adhering Bodies from China (1).(Adhering Body is the term applied to a full member of the Union.)This formula was subsequently adopted by many of the other Scienti c Unions belonging to the International Council of Scienti c Unions (ICSU, now the International Council for Science, but still ICSU) and was adopted by ICSU itself, meeting in Cambridge, UK in the month following the Perth Congress.For the rst time, delegates representing all parts of China would sit side by side at the IUB General Assemblies.Although the 1979 negotiations had proven successful, I was somewhat uneasy about the General Assemblies in Australia.This was because when, in 1977, mainland China had rst begun to reapply for membership of the Scienti c Unions, it had made the same condition that Taiwan be expelled.This condition had been agreed to by one Union, and Taiwanese delegates to a scienti c meeting in Australia had been required by the Australian Government to respond to a questionnaire to which the Taiwanese objected, but which was a condition of their obtaining a visa to enter Australia.The Australian Government of