HSR a "flagship"

Liu also expressed China's willingness to help build a high-speed rail link between London and the North.

China has "the knowledge, expertise and experience", he said.

"We really need to identify flagship projects and the high-speed rail might be one of them," he suggested.

China is expected to have more than 13,000 kilometers of high-speed railway during the coming years. In mainland Europe, China has already confirmed cooperation projects with countries including Bulgaria and Turkey.

But in the UK, the financial benefits of building the rail link are still uncertain, according to an independent report.

A study commissioned by the all-party Transport Select Committee, carried out by Oxera, questioned the justification of the project, which has triggered fierce opposition from Tory members of parliament whose constituencies are on the proposed route.

Opponents of the plan seized on the document.

"This report shows that (Transport Secretary) Philip Hammond's high-speed rail project is going off the rails," the Daily Telegraph quoted Jerry Marshall, from Action Groups Against High-Speed Two, as saying.

But David Begg, from the Campaign for High-Speed Rail, told the London-based newspaper: "The closer people look at this issue the more they will see the benefits high-speed rail will have on the country as a whole."

A Department of Transport spokesperson said HS2 Limited, the company considering the case for high-speed rail services between London and Scotland, is "currently conducting a public consultation, which is due to close at the end of July".

"The Secretary of State will then take a decision on whether to go ahead with HS2 at the end of this year," the spokesperson told China Daily. "On current assumptions, main construction could start in 2017. It is far too early to say who would own or be contracted to build the infrastructure."