Summary：China plans to draw up a guideline to help its equipment makers, particularly railway and nuclear companies, to expand exports, the country s top economic planning body said on Friday

A CRH (China Railway High-Speed) train is seen at a maintenance station for an overall system examination in Urumqi,capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, June 3, 2014. [Photo/IC]

 

China plans to draw up a guideline to help its equipment makers, particularly railway and nuclear companies, to expand exports, the country's top economic planning body said on Friday.

Formulation of the guideline has just begun, and it will include supportive financial policies to promote exports of Chinese-made equipment.

The development was announced by Wang Xiaotao, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a news conference.

"There is global enthusiasm for infrastructure projects, and railway construction has become an important measure for many countries to promote growth, both in developing and developed nations," Wang said.

"This provides a key opportunity for China's railway firms to go global."

China's locomotive exports reached $4 billion last year, accounting for 10 percent of the global market. Key markets include Asia, South Africa and Latin America.

Analysts said the combination of China's top two train-makers, CSR Corp and CNR Corp, is expected to further strengthen competitiveness of Chinese companies.

Wang said China is involved in initial discussions with several countries on the possibility of exporting its nuclear power equipment. It is exporting the technology to Pakistan and Argentina.

China has assisted in building six nuclear reactors in Pakistan with a total installed capacity of 3.4 million kilowatts, he said.

The country signed a landmark deal on Wednesday to export nuclear technology to Argentina, including a heavy-water nuclear reactor that was developed based on Canadian technology.

A steel dome is hoisted onto the No 1 reactor at Haiyang nuclear power plant in Shandong province in March 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

 

"It didn't take long for us (to move) from introducing this technology to exporting it," Wang said, adding that it indicates China has progressed rapidly and reached leading global levels in many areas of its high-technology equipment.

He said the country will take the security issues of all overseas nuclear projects very seriously and has adopted stringent standards after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.

A report by Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co said that after high-speed trains, nuclear technology will become another growth point for China's advanced-equipment manufacturing industry.

The nation is pushing its leading nuclear companies to improve their competitiveness and boost their presence overseas.

According to Chinese media reports, regulators have approved the merger of China Power Investment Corp and State Nuclear Power Technology Corp.

However, some observers believe that nuclear companies are unlikely to make progress in foreign markets as rapidly as producers of rolling stock.

Ma Yi, an expert at China Nuclear Power Engineering Co, said nuclear equipment involves specialized products. "There are tough demands from buyers, and relatively high technical and management levels are required to ensure security," Ma said.

Equipment exports in industries including electricity, telecommunications, petrochemicals and aviation all witnessed rapid growth last year.

Chinese equipment manufacturing exports reached 2.1 trillion yuan ($340 billion) last year, accounting for 17 percent of the country's exports for 2014.