United States President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell during their visit to Beijing were scheduled to look at something very familiar to the capital city?s 13 million inhabitants -- the public bus -- in a visit to the partnership between the Beijing Public Transportation Corporation and its joint-venture partner Cummins Inc., the designer and manufacturer of diesel engines headquartered in Columbus, Indiana.
With one of the largest bus fleets in the world, Beijing has purchased some 2,000 Cummins CNG-powered buses to help revamp its bus system to comply with auto emission guidelines set under the stringent environmental standards implemented by China in anticipation of the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing.
By 2008, about 90 percent of Beijing?s some 11,000 buses will utilize clean natural gas energy, according to a Cummins representative who said that Bush and Powell wanted to visit the joint-venture partnership as a demonstration of the cooperation needed to improve the environment in China and throughout the world.
Martha Brooks, vice president of Marketing and Sales for Cummins Inc. and a member of the Cummins Westport board of directors, and Dr. Jong S. Kim, managing director of Cummins in East Asia and Korea, planned to meet President Bush and Secretary Powell to explain the environmental benefits of the company?s compressed natural gas engine.
Cummins Westport CNG engines, which exceed the Euro II emission levels mandated for city buses, demonstrate Cummins commitment to developing local solutions that will help China achieve its environmental objectives, according to the company representative who added that Cummins Inc. has built a strong partnership with China spanning more than two decades and exceeding more than US$130 million of investment.
As the largest foreign investor in China?s engine sector, Cummins has founded seven joint venture and wholly-owned manufacturing enterprises to produce a wide range of products. The company is an integrated part of China?s growing engine industry with over 400,000 engines in service, supported by eight regional sales and service centers and more than ninety authorized dealers across China.
Cummins has some 500 company-owned and independent distributor locations in 131 countries and territories with some 26,500 employees worldwide.
(china.org.cn February 21, 2002)
