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Premier Li Keqiang is off to a one-week travel to Europe to strengthen China's trade and investment ties with Germany, Russia and Italy.
With their country as the first stop, experts in Germany suggest that China's rail innovation and technology can provide new opportunities to broaden the two countries' ties.
Peter Munich, Technical University of Berlin professor, commends the government of China for its part in the expansion and improvement of China's rail technology.
"The Chinese government provides a lot of support to China's high-speed rail development," said Mr. Munich. He was hoping that German Chancellor Angela Merkel would support the same development in Germany.
When China perfected the technology for its bullet trains, it started selling them to Europe and provided hard competition to domestic manufacturers. Hungary and Romania are two of the first European countries to purchase China-made trains to improve their transport system.
Vice President Yu Weiping of China CNR Corporation said that the success and improvement of train manufacturing relies in the flexible strategies to adjust to each country's standards.
"For example, our electric locomotives have been introduced to Beralus, because we meet a set of technical standards laid out by the Commonwealth of Independent States; our cargo trains and tankers have been exported to France, as we cater to EU's industrial criteria and requirements," said Yu.
Mr. Munich, however, said that promoting China's railway technology is not simple, given the language and cultural barriers as well as various standards in safety and other technicalities.
The German professor advised that, for China to fully mine the potential of the train market in Germany, Chinese firms will need to consider hiring locally and convincing the German government that such investment will be all but beneficial.
Optimistic about China's railway technology in Germany, Wolfgang Schwenk from the Association of German Transport Companies said: "It is important that companies share their experiences in dealing with services and new technology."
