US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the new Beijing Foton-Cummins heavy duty engine production facility as a vivid example of mutually beneficial collaboration between China and industries in the United States.
“I just toured this amazing facility, what you have built here is really the blueprint for the businesses of the future,” Kerry said Saturday (Feb. 15) to reporters and plant workers. “Not only is the facility modern and clean and state of the art, but the workers are well paid and the benefits are good and there is collaboration between what happens here and what is happening in the United States.
“We are not just improving lives by building cleaner engines, which you see right here, and making it easier for people to breathe; we are not just transforming the way we use and produce energy; we are also creating jobs and strengthening our economies by moving towards clean energy, clean technology, (and) alternative and renewable fuels,” Kerry said.
The speech and tour at the plant was the last stop on the Secretary of State’s two-day visit to China. He has been touring Asia to promote collaboration on issues involving climate change.
Kerry toured the new plant’s production lines before speaking to an audience of about 200 people about how the United States and China can work together to address climate change.
The Beijing Foton Cummins Engine Company is a 50-50 joint venture between Cummins – the world’s leading independent diesel engine maker, and Foton Motors – China’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer.
Xie Zhenhua, Vice Chairman of the China National Development and Reform Commission; Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, and Gary Locke, the U.S. Ambassador to China, joined Secretary Kerry at the event.
The new Beijing Foton-Cummins facility is producing the Cummins ISG heavy duty engine, a newly developed heavy-duty platform that meets tough emission standards while achieving a high degree of fuel efficiency.
The engine is targeted primarily for Chinese markets, but is the result of a global team. More than 100 U.S. engineers, for example, have actively participated in the research and development of the advanced technologies for the engine. And cutting-edge manufacturing equipment from the United States is helping hundreds of Chinese workers in the plant operate with ease and efficiency.
Kerry said it is important to address environmental challenges step by step.
“One of the big steps that we can take is to build cleaner engines like you are building in Foton- Cummins.” Kerry said. “We need innovation like making a cleaner engine; innovation like making a car or a truck that can go farther, a longer distance on fuel with fewer pollutants coming out of it; innovation like finding ways to take an old truck or an old car, and change the way that it provides its power and can run on clean fuels. Above all, innovations depend on governments sending the right signals.”
Kerry told the audience that the U.S. and China will cooperate more closely in combating climate change. The two countries have completed implementation plans for five initiatives on heavy-duty vehicles, on smart grid technology for the delivery of energy, on carbon capture, utilization and storage; on energy efficiency and finally on collection and management of data.
“We are so honored to have Secretary Kerry tour our plant,” said Steve Chapman, Cummins Group Vice President for China and Russia, “We are thrilled to see and encouraged by the collaboration between the U.S. and China on addressing climate change challenges on the national level. That will bring us more opportunities to leverage our complementary resources and utilize our advanced technologies to create environmental and sustainable benefits for more people in our two countries”.
