Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), will visit China shortly in an effort to persuade Chinese leaders to use shinkansen bullet train technology for a high-speed Beijing-Shanghai railway, federation officials said Thursday.
The head of Japan's most powerful business lobby will visit China for three days, beginning Sunday, the officials said.
China wants its trains to cover the 1,300-km distance between Beijing and Shanghai in five hours. Japan is competing with France and Germany to secure an order to provide the necessary technology.
China may shortly invite bids in an attempt to complete the project in time for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Okuda had planned to visit China twice earlier this year but was forced to cancel for reasons such as the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.