Sir, – Despite China’s expansion of its high-speed rail network from 9,000 to 42,000 kilometres, supported by a fleet of domestically manufactured trains, showcasing its global dominance in this field, the prospect of China constructing Ireland’s rail infrastructure raises critical issues that cannot be overlooked (David McWilliams, “We get electronics and cars from China, so why not let them build our rail infrastructure?”, Weekend, August 17th).
Chinese companies often benefit from substantial state subsidies, which allow them to underbid competitors in international tenders, undercutting local or European firms and negatively impacting the single market.
The European Union has already demonstrated its wariness toward Chinese involvement in European rail projects, taking decisive action against recent attempts.
In February 2023, the European Commission launched its first investigation under the new Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), scrutinising a €610 million bid by CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive, a subsidiary of the state-owned Chinese train manufacturer CRRC, for a Bulgarian rail project. This move is part of the EU’s broader strategy to address Chinese market distortions, and it signals a clear stance against allowing Chinese firms to gain a foothold in critical European infrastructure. If Ireland were to pursue a similar course by inviting China to build its rail system, it is highly likely that it would face similar scrutiny and potential pushback from the EU, leading to complications that could derail the project before it even begins.
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In China, European railway manufacturers have been burnt. After a phase of technology transfer and import substitution, China has significantly displaced European producers in rail and high-speed rail (HSR) sectors from its domestic market, one of many examples spurring on the formation of the EU’s FSR. Since then, Chinese companies have captured a significant portion of the global market and are now competing with European producers in other markets.
Ireland’s approach to China has been one that aims to maintain a balanced economic relationship and ensure that Irish and Chinese companies have fair opportunities to expand into each other’s markets, with the overall goal to foster mutual economic interdependence rather than one-sided dependency. For China to build Ireland’s rail network, it would involve a number of large state-owned enterprises and their employees coming to Ireland for a number of years to manufacture this country’s rail infrastructure. This would mean that maintenance, technology updates, or parts supply would be controlled by Chinese companies, incurring a level of long-term dependence on China.
Equally, the price tag attached to state companies and employees from a single country 8,000 kilometres away to come in and spend years to manufacture an entire rail system would certainly put that balanced economic relationship in jeopardy.
From a geopolitical perspective, such a massive decision would certainly impact our relationships not only within the EU and but across the Atlantic. US and Chinese companies located in Ireland and trading globally mean that Ireland has become a site for US-China competition. An open invitation for China to build a critical part of our infrastructure is likely to invite a response from Washington that could potentially hurt Ireland’s interests to maintain US-headquartered multinational companies on our island.
Instead of resorting to a cost-efficiency approach of outsourcing our challenges that would erode state control, we should focus on investing in Ireland’s industrial policy to foster indigenous innovation. We can take a leaf out of China’s book by promoting domestic self-reliance and prioritising home-grown solutions. The real answer lies within our own capabilities, bolstered by the expertise of our European neighbours who possess the necessary know-how. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and tackle this project ourselves, with a little help from our European friends. – Yours, etc,
ALEXANDER DAVEY,
Analyst,
Mercator Institute for China Studies,
Berlin.
Sir, – The construction of most railway projects happens at the very end of a long and onerous process. Route selection could take many years to get agreement from all stakeholders along the proposed route when selected. Then the project has to be designed and submitted for planning permission, and this could take up to two years to get approval or not. Then there is the issue of compulsory purchase of required land along the route.
Many issues arise during public hearings, and in some cases environmental issues will delay awarding a railway order if not resolved.
In essence, the actual construction of the project might only take 40 per cent of the overall time frame.
On previous light-rail projects here, the contractors did bring in specialist designers and builders from Italy and France, but to suggest that Chinese contractors would build our railways faster does not hold up. Maybe in China, where the authorities demolish whole towns to make way for roads and railways, and run roughshod over the the rights of the individual, disregard environmental issues, and use armies of cheap labour, projects can be built a lot faster.
Hopefully our democracy takes the concern of the individual into consideration, and does not allow economics to dictate our quality of life. – Yours, etc,
J VINCENT CARROLL, CEng.,
Dublin 14.