The Associated Press reports on allegations of China stealing railway technologies:
China’s Railway Ministry denied reported accusations Saturday that foreigners are being squeezed out of the Chinese railway market and that local companies are exporting trains using Western technologies.
In a statement, ministry spokesman Wang Yongping defended the Chinese railway industry’s record for innovation and said foreign companies would continue to have access to the China market.
The comments were the ministry’s first since the Financial Times on January 2 quoted Philippe Mellier, chief executive of Paris-based train maker Alstom Transport, as saying that China was closing off its domestic market and that Chinese companies were exporting trains that used foreign technologies. The report suggested that such exports could be in violation of licensing agreements.