now wuhan is linked with shanghai in the east.ater this year a direct line from guangzhou to the capital beijing will open, making wuhan a true hub city for high-speed rail travel. as can be expected, the arrival of the train line is having a profound effect on wuhan. this woman works for a bank. she spends more than half of each month away on business. she used to travel by air, but has since switched to high-speed train travel. she says trains are more convenient because they don't require reservations, and they depart more frequently than the airlines. so she can leave even on short notice. >> translator: planes are often delayed and can affect my work. if i'm sent on a business trip at noon and get to the station by 1:00, i can get on a train that leaves at 1:10. i can control my schedule. >> reporter: the economy in wuhan is also greatly benefitting. since the arrival of the first bullet train, 381 foreign businesses have moved to the city, pushing up its total imports and exports by nearly 60%. the increased business activit

yutaka yano, nhk world, wuhan. >> back to the basics there. >>> in other news, italy's u.n. ambassador dashed hopes that a japan supported resolution to expand the security council will be passed this year. japan, germany, india and brazil are hoping to join the council and plan to submit the resolution by september to increase the number of permanent and non-permanent members. in an interview with nhk, italy's u.n. ambassador criticized the draft resolution. the four s only aim is to get nations and said ratification would be difficult. >> the bad aspect which is the only one frankly, because the only point which characterized the proposition is to have new permanent members and they think about themselves as new permanent members. >> he also said the proposal is supported by only 0% of u.n. member nations. he added japan must have already realized how difficult it would be to adopt, changing the number of u.n. security council members requires a revision to the u.n. charter. it must be supported by two-thirds of its members including the five permanent seats. >>> angry fan

wuhan city is now home to international brands such as honda, nissan, and peugeot citroen. they've established manufacturing bases alongside some of china's national companies. collectively, they produce more than 1 million units every year, earning wuhan the nickname car capital of china. but that made the city even more vulnerable to the impact of japan's march 11th disaster. many suppliers suspended production after the earthquake and tsunami. international shipments froze, forcing automakers to decrease production. that meant a drop in sales for dongfeng honda automobile, honda's joint venture in china. it sold 37% fewer vehicles in may compared to the same month last year. the problem was a shortage of high-tech car parts from japanese factories which produce a large percentage of the world's supply. these devices are used to operate windows, navigation systems and control an engine's speed and displacement. >> translator: we import many spare parts and depend on each and every one of them. the shortage of electronic components in particular had a big impact on our bus

in mid-may a japanese company held a job interview at a wuhan hotel. these applicants were brought together by zhou shu li, vice president of a recruitment agency. >> translator: when you answer a question, tell them the truth in a bright voice. >> reporter: once hired, the applicants receive technical training in japan where they're paid about $1500 a month, almost ten times the average income in their rural hometowns. they're used to be severe competition for these posts. but since the disaster in japan, the number of applicants has declined sharply. >> translator: my relatives ask me why i would want to go to japan after the earthquake. >> translator: i'm afraid radiation may affect my health. anybody would be scared. >> reporter: zhou was hoping to attract at least 50 applicants for this interview, but only 20 showed up. >> translator: everybody is afraid of the radiation. we can prepare for an earthquake but there's nothing we can do about radiation. people are also worried about water and food. >> reporter: when the march 11th disaster struck, zh

the major cities, the distance of major cities for example from beijing to shanghai, from beijing to wuhan, is longer; is at least 1,000 kilometres. so at this distance, the high speed rail has no competitive advantage. >>reporter: this is the case today. but so long as the economycontinues to grow, passenger numbers should rise, well that's the plan. >>reporter: there is, however, a bigger picture. in exchange for market access, japanese, european and north american players have spent years transferring high speed rail technology to china's state controlled industry. along the way, companies like csr sifang have digested the original tech, developing it further, to produce new tech for even faster trains which they fully claim as their own. and they're now out to capture orders, independently, overseas. >>sansan: if we export the 250 kilometre per hour train, we have to cooperate with our technology transfer partner. but if we export our new generation 350 to 380 kilometre, we can do it ourselves because we have the independent intellectual property.>>reporter: so with the benefit of huge