When it comes to delivering on high rail capability, we are much stronger than Japan: China

Zhou Fangyuan, International Director, China Railway No 4, Engineering Group today said that China is much stronger and capable when it comes to delivering on high speed rail capability.

Speaking exclusively to ANI, Zhou Fangyuan said, "We may not be as good as them when it comes to the manufacturing of high end electronics and the machineries they are manufacturing, but in terms of infrastructure, constructional capabilities specially high speed rail capability, we are much stronger than them and we are very confident".

Expressing that China is interested in investing in India, he added, "As you know that China over the past 20 years have built up their high speed rail network, metro system, highways water processing, including sewage and drinking water and also urban development. Our view is that as long as the opportunity is there, we will be investing and participating in the growth".

He was reacting to the investment that Japan will be making in India in the fields of infrastructure, construction and high speed rail projects.

Describing India as a close neighbour with whom the Chinese government looks forward to developing better relations, Fangyuan said, "Traditionally, Chinese people and Chinese government views India as a close neighbour. We want to do business together, now we understand that Mr Modi is currently in Japan right now. We read in the newspaper about the USD 35 billion investment in India's infrastructure sector, so we want to work with this government as a geo-political strategy to enter this sector and help the government of the two countries to build a better relationship."

Rubbishing the common belief that the two countries do not possess cordial relations, Fangyuan said "As a company conducting business we actually have a very different view from what you perceive. We consider India as a close neighbour and in Chinese there is a word saying that far away relatives are not as good as a close neighbour but you mentioned Japan's interest in India is in high speed rail. Our company is specialized in that area and we all for the past 20 years have built up tremendous advantage in that area both in terms of the scale and in terms of technological capability and we can help in the same".

Chinese President Xi Jinping would be visiting India in the third week of this month. The visit is expected to be dominated by trade and investment initiatives.

Investments include Chinese industrial parks in India, which is expected to be announced by Xi during his visit. Discussions will also include what products China wants to manufacture in India.

India is emphasizing that China comes up with four such parks while China wants to start with one.