China is offering to supply the equipment, technology, and engineers to construct California’s high-speed rail. From the New York Times:
China is offering not just to build a railroad in California but also to help finance its construction, and Chinese officials have already been shuttling between Beijing and Sacramento to make presentations, Mr. Crane said in a telephone interview.
…Even if an agreement is reached for China to build and help bankroll a high-speed rail system in California, considerable obstacles would remain.
China’s rail ministry would face independent labor unions and democratically elected politicians, neither of which it has to deal with at home. The United States also has labor and immigration laws stricter than those in China.
In a nearly two-hour interview at the rail ministry’s monolithic headquarters here, Mr. Zheng said repeatedly that any Chinese bid would comply with all American laws and regulations.
