Transportation Technology Transfer Between the People’s Republic of China and the United States

The private ownership of motor vehicles in China has increased from less than half a million in 1970 to 9 million in 1994. It is expected to reach 19.6 million in 2000, 80 million in 2010, and 354 million in 2020. China needs a good highway system to meet its economic growth. In 1991, the Ministry of Communications addressed this need by calling on all the provinces to draft a 30-year highway transportation network plan. To build the necessary new highways and expressways, China needs access to modern transportation science and technology. The United States has a good highway system and advanced science and technology, which China would like to transfer and use. A technology transfer center (often called a T² center) would be the best mechanism to accomplish this. The ways in which technology transfer can occur between the United States and China are discussed. A proposal to establish six T² centers throughout the People’s Republic of China is described. It is argued that this would be beneficial for both China and the United States, facilitating more technical cooperation between the two countries and increasing the export of U.S. technology and road-building equipment to the growing Chinese markets.