Lessons from China's export of high-speed railway

China North Rail Corporation Limited (CNR) won a subway bid in Massachusetts in the United States recently. CNR will provide 284 subway carriages at the price of about $557 million. This is the largest deal between China's railway transportation equipment manufacturer and the US, a step that shows that China is ready to start exporting high-end equipment to developed countries, says an article in the 21st Century Business Herald. Excerpts:

China South Rail Corporation Limited (CSR), another State-owned enterprise that manufactures railway transportation equipment in China, submitted its intention to bid to the high-speed administration of California, competing for 95 motor train units. Earlier this month, China Railway Construction Corporation Limited and CSR was the only bidder in a high-speed railway project in Mexico.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang started promoting China's high-speed railway in his foreign visits. He proposed to build high-speed railway connecting Beijing and Moscow in his visit to Europe last month.

"Made in China" is no longer a synonym of cheap shirts and lower-end electronic products, but also advanced technological equipment.

China had planned to exchange advanced technologies from the developed countries when it opened up its market. But this intention did not materialize. Chinese enterprises learned little techniques because of the developed countries' blockade of sharing of knowledge. The weak technologies of China's auto industry are in sharp contrast with the foreign automobile builders' domination of the Chinese market. China lost the market without gaining advanced techniques.

China also intended to learn the high-speed railway techniques from developed countries at first. But China never stopped carrying out research in the field.

One reason for China's success in high-speed railway business is that Chinese companies avoid competing with each other in the bids.

CNR and CSR do not appear in the same bid. Chinese government also learned from developed countries in promoting high-speed railway businesses around the world. Chinese authorities need to make joint efforts to coordinate the high-speed enterprises' actions in foreign market.