President Bush got a look at some North American technology on his trip to China last week.

Cummins Inc. and the Beijing Public Transportation Corporation welcomed the president and Secretary of State Colin Powell for an introduction to one of the world's largest compressed natural gas bus fleets. Cummins, through its joint venture Cummins Westport Inc., has partnered with the BJPT to provide clean, reliable transportation from Cummins-powered compressed natural gas buses operating in Beijing. Bush visited this 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 and member of the Cummins Westport board of directors, and Dr. Jong Kim, chairman and general manager of Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., were on hand to meet the president and explain the environmental benefits of the company's compressed natural gas engine.
In anticipation of the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing, China is implementing stringent environmental standards governing auto emissions, water quality and industrial and solid waste pollution.
In 1999, the Beijing Public Transportation Corporation purchased 300 Cummins CNG-powered buses for its public transport fleet. Today, Beijing has one of the largest CNG bus fleets in the world, with around 2,000 buses in operation on the streets of Beijing. These buses account for a significant and growing portion of the 11,000 buses Beijing's 13 million inhabitants rely on to move around the city. By 2008, 90 percent of Beijing's buses will use natural gas.
As the largest foreign investor in China's engine sector, Cummins has founded seven joint ventures and wholly owned enterprises to manufacture 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.