China May Miss the Bullet Train

Bitter history is threatening to take precedence over price and technology in deciding one of the world's most lucrative engineering projects: the high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai.

Japan was initially tipped as the favourite to win the $23bn contract to build and run the 1,310km route, but anti-Tokyo sentiment is growing in China just months before the decision is expected.

Japan's shinkansen bullet train operator is competing with France's TGV and a German maglev (magnetic levitation) train consortium.

The line, which will reduce the 12-hour journey by about two-thirds, is expected to be completed in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Japan had been tipped as frontrunner because of its safety record and proven success in exporting its technology to Taiwan.

But with a decision expected by the end of the year, memories of the war - and the role of the Manchurian railway in Japan's invasion during the 1930s - have been stirred up in China. More than 80,000 people have signed an online petition against the shinkansen in a campaign run by the Chinese Patriotic Foundation, which documents grievances against Japan.

Chinese politicians, who have reacted angrily to signs of resurgent nationalism in Tokyo, gave a chilly welcome to Chikage Ogi, of the Japanese transport ministry, on a lobbying mission this week.

Ms Ogi was refused meetings with the prime minister, Wen Jiabao.