Published on July 12, 2019.
Presented as a chapter originally published on May 5, 2018, this passage discusses China’s exports of nuclear power plants and high-speed rail, and the relationship behind them with Japanese technology.
While China has strengthened its competitiveness by introducing technology from Japan and Germany, the passage argues that major questions remain regarding safety, transparency, and project management, thereby highlighting once again the superiority of Japan’s long-accumulated experience and technological strength.

2019-07-12
Professor Wei Yuezhou (55) of Guangxi University, a specialist in the nuclear fuel cycle, points out that “there is still much to learn from Japan, which has long experience.”
What follows is a chapter I published on 2018/5/5.
Until August four years ago, the Asahi Shimbun had ruled Japan… to use their favorite word, it is an evident fact that it was the Asahi Shimbun that had ruled every world and every stratum of society as the Nazis of Japan.
There is no doubt that even the entire Special Investigation Department of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office had subscribed to and closely read the Asahi Shimbun.
What is more,
Masayuki Takayama, the one and only journalist in the postwar world, once told us that the Asahi Shimbun, against a Prosecutor-General who did not follow its wishes, used the sort of method with which it is now carrying out a movement to topple the government, took up some female scandal or the like involving that Prosecutor-General, repeatedly gave it major coverage, and brought about his downfall.
Whether directly or indirectly, the following article is, not only about nuclear power plants, but also about lowering the credibility of Japan’s railways, the world’s strongest and most formidable rival,
and it is an evident fact that the only country in the world rejoicing with delight over the fact that, just as construction of the Linear Shinkansen, the world’s greatest railway technology, from which Japan would widen the gap still further in their eyes, began, an investigation was launched into Japan’s general contractors, whose technological strength is the finest in the world and acknowledged as such by the world, by calling it bid-rigging… in a manner about which even former prosecutors have raised doubts, is China.
What follows is a continuation of the Yomiuri Shimbun article in the previous chapter.
High-speed rail, too, narrowed the gap with foreign countries through the introduction of technology from abroad.
In September 2017, the high-speed rail service “Fuxing,” boasting the world’s fastest speed of 350 kilometers per hour, began operation.
Its name derives from the Xi Jinping administration’s slogan, “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” and it reaches Shanghai, 1,300 kilometers away from Beijing, in four and a half hours.
China has received railway technology from Japan, Germany, and others, but Professor Yang Zhongping (47) of Beijing Jiaotong University says, “Fuxing is ‘purely domestic production,’ with everything from design to testing carried out by China itself. Our technology has advanced to a higher stage.”　　　　　　
As part of its huge economic sphere concept, the “Belt and Road Initiative,” China aims to export infrastructure technology overseas.
Its two main pillars are nuclear power plants and high-speed rail.
At a symposium on the nuclear industry held in Tokyo on April 10, an executive of a Chinese company involved in exporting nuclear power plants explained the domestically produced reactor “Hualong One” and emphasized, “With our nuclear plant safety systems, we can fully meet customer demands.”
Hualong One is a new type of reactor based on French technology.
Taking into account the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, it is said to be able to withstand strong earthquakes and tsunamis.
Its export to Britain, Argentina, and other countries has already been decided.
High-speed rail, too, has received construction project orders from Laos, Indonesia, and others.
Mr. Yang explains, “We have the strength of having developed vehicles that can respond to the various terrains and climates found within our country.”
Japan, too, is putting effort into selling nuclear power plants and high-speed rail, but China, once its “pupil,” now stands in its way as a powerful competitor.
However, Hualong One has no operating track record, and whether it can truly respond to accidents and troubles remains unknown.
A Japanese researcher points to the opacity of information disclosure, saying, “Once they establish the technology, foreign people can no longer enter the facilities.”
In high-speed rail as well, cases are conspicuous in which projects stagnate because of forceful methods at the time of receiving orders and overly optimistic projections.
Professor Wei Yuezhou (55) of Guangxi University, a specialist in the nuclear fuel cycle, points out that “there is still much to learn from Japan, which has long experience.”
At the same time, operating data from nuclear power plants and high-speed rail also becomes valuable research and development material for Japan, where research funding is sluggish.
Watanabe 繝, Special Researcher at the Japan Overseas Electric Power Survey & Exchange Council (66), based on his experience of observing China for 30 years, says, “China needs Japan for its development, and Japan, too, can make use of China. The two should build relations strategically.”
(The end. This series was handled by Kazuhiko Makita and Sho Funakoshi.)