BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China may abandon the construction of the four-billion-euro Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed maglev line if talks with Germany on technical transfers and other issues fail, the 21st Century Business Herald said Friday.

    "The line will not be built if they keep saying no," Wu Xiangming, director of the China national magnetic levitation transportation technology research center was quoted as saying in Germany.

    Wu is believed to be a key figure involved in bilateral talks on the building of the 200-km-long maglev track, which will be designed to allow a maximum speed of 450 km per hour.

    The Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev line will be the world's second commercial high-speed maglev track. Shanghai operates the world's only commercial maglev system on a 30-km run between Shanghai's financial district and its Pudong airport.

    The report quoted a well-informed expert with elite Tongji University in Shanghai as saying that Germany wants China to build the maglev line with technologies bought from German firms.

    China has rejected this model since the German price is too high, the unidentified expert said.

    The Chinese favor a plan in which the two sides will set up a joint venture, which will produce most of the equipment and spare parts for the maglev line, the expert said.

    China's contribution to maglev technology

    Speaking in May at the fourth Sino-German hi-tech dialog forum in Beijing, Wu reminded the German side of China's contribution tothe growth of maglev technology.

    Although German firms have spent huge money on the research of the technology, it was China that spent over a billion euros building the short Shanghai maglev line, which brought the technology out of the laboratory and into daily use, he said.

    All technical data gathered during the operation of the Shanghai maglev line has been shared between the two sides, a model that will also apply to the Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev line, he said.

    "If one says Germany gave birth to the technology, then it should be accepted that China provided the fertile soil for it to grow strong and sturdy," he said.

    Wu further noted that the success of the Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev line will have a tremendous impact on the promotion of the German maglev technology in the world.