COMPLETION REPORTThe impact of innovative mercantilism on Japan's High-speed rail development
Yin-nor Tjia
Assistant Professor
Department of Asian and International Studies
City University of Hong Kong
In 2004, Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Kawasaki) and other leading high-speed rail (HSR)
manufacturing companies began exporting HSR technologies to China. Eyeing China’s lucrative market,
foreign HSR companies assumed their Chinese competitor would only become a threat after many
decades. In 2007, China stopped importing HSR technologies and started assimilating foreigntechnologies according to the domestic situation and exporting HSR abroad. Many HSR experts
speculated that: 1) China had unlawfully pirated foreign technologies; and 2) China’s “innovationmercantilism” have reduce the global market share of foreign innovators, lower their research anddevelopment (R&D) spendings, and harm the global HSR technology. Yet, an alternative liberal
conceptualization of geoeconomics frames China’s “market for technology” policy as a pure economic
strategy, seeking non-zero-sum cooperative gains to advance domestic industry rather than pushing forgeopolitical domination.
Against such an HSR technological developmental debate, this research provides a nuanced
understanding of the HSR technology development before and after China’s entry into the HSR market
in 2007. Through a systematic review of the HSR-related patents granted by the World IntellectualProperty Office (WIPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the China National Intellectual Property
Administration (CNIPA) between 1997 and 2021, this report sheds light on three significant findings.
First, China’s HSR-related technology dominates the industrial sector by domestic and international
standards. Between 1997-2006, 71 HSR-related patents were granted at CNIPA. The number has
increased exponentially to 11,763 between 2007 and 2021. Internationally, China has acquired two HSRrelated patents in the pre-2007 period and 197 in the post-2007 period, equivalent to almost 80% of 248
world-combined internationally recognized HSR patents. Interestingly, out of 100 HSR patents
registered in JPO since 1996, six of them were granted to Chinese applicants.
Second, such technological advancement in China has not displaced its competitors’ R&D efforts indeveloping HSR technology. According to the WIPO database, there were only 13 HSR-related patents
granted internationally between 1997 and 2006 (1.3 patents per year); the number has grown to 248
between 2007 and 2021 (16.5 patents per year). Interviews with Japanese HSR experts reveal that they
began to file patent applications only after realizing the threat from a late-comer and the need to protect
the indigenous intellectual properties. The filing of patented technology does not only serve to protect
the innovator, it also serve to share the R&D outcome under an internationally consented timeframe. The
resulting global HSR technology is likely to be a non-zero-sum advancement.
Lastly, unpacking the HSR patents into the constituent technologies according to the WIPO
classification allows for a more nuanced explanation of the countries’ variation in HSR technology
development. While Japan has endeavoured to secure internationally recognized HSR-related patents inadvancing technology development or material production related to upgrading the electrical moving
units (EMUs) and the communication system, China has researched beyond the core technologies forEMUs (Lee 2012) covering areas including civil and track works, traction and power supply, operationand maintenance system, as well as other minor technical areas, such as furniture or suction cleaners,
door and window design, as well as elevators or escalators or moving walkways. Japan is obviously
specializing its sophisticated HSR technology which requires longer research timeframe. China, on theother hand, is becoming an all-rounder and it HSR technology may sometimes have to adjust downwards
for pragmatic and economic concerns especially in developing countries.

Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)

Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
An article entitled "Japan’s High-speed-rail innovation spillovers from China’s market for technology
strategy" is under preparation.
Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)