In violation of an agreement, XpressWest Enterprises of the United States has unilaterally announced to cancel its high-speed rail project with China Railway International. The Las Vegas-based company said the deal was called off primarily because of "difficulties associated with timely performance and CRI's challenges in obtaining required authority to proceed with required development activities".
According to a cooperation framework agreement the two parties signed, one party had to obtain the prior consent of the other before publishing news on the high-speed rail project, which was supposed to link Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
As a matter of fact, CRI has been holding patient talks with XpressWest on a variety of issues raised by the latter. The Chinese side understands US people's eagerness to have their own high-speed railway and thus extended active support to the high-speed rail project in the US. However, China's sincere cooperation does not mean it will always unconditionally agree to "exorbitant requirements" from the other side.
The fact that more than half of the world's high-speed rail lines were built in China in the past decade is proof the country is more than capable and qualified to execute such projects anywhere in the world.
Honesty is a cornerstone of commercial cooperation. What XpressWest's unilateral termination of the contract has sabotaged is not only its cooperation with another company, but its own credit. "High-speed railway" is not only a dream of the Chinese people, but also a dream of the US people. By unilaterally calling off the deal, XpressWest has delayed the fulfillment of the "high-speed rail" dream of the US people.
In the context of rigorous global climate change, the opening of high-speed trains can effectively reduce carbon emissions while offering people greater travel convenience.
China is not expected to always face an even road while pushing its high-speed rail projects to go global. But despite facing resistance from those with ulterior motives, China will continue promoting high-speed rail cooperation with other countries, in order to make train journeys eco-friendly.--Xinhua News Agency