Li Peng, China's No. 2 leader, voiced support Tuesday for adopting Japan's bullet train technology for a high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai.
"I personally think a rail method is better (than a magnetically levitated one)," Li was quoted as telling transport minister Chikage Ogi. Li is chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress.
Ogi is in Beijing as part of the Japanese delegation attending a series of events to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between Japan and China.
The 1,300-km rail project has attracted fierce competition between Japanese and German railway builders, with Japan trying to sell its bullet train technology and Germany offering a high-speed magnetically levitated train.
China is expected to make a decision on the project next spring.
It has already adopted Germany's maglev technology for a 30-km high-speed intracity transit system in Shanghai, leading many to consider Germany the front-running candidate.
