WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara might visit Florida as part of his trip to the United States in mid-January to urge the state to adopt the shinkansen system for its high-speed rail project, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said Sunday.
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While Maehara is trying to meet with Rick Scott, who is due to take office as governor on Jan. 4, it is still not clear whether the project will go forward because the governor-elect has not explicitly backed the plan, the sources said.
Scott won the gubernatorial poll after backing by the Tea Party movement, which is opposed to spending excessive taxpayer money on the rail project.
Maehara is thinking of visiting Florida during his trip to Washington, where he hopes to meet with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to promote the shinkansen system and discuss the Japan-U.S. security alliance with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The plan being pushed by the U.S. calls for inaugurating a 135-km rail line between Tampa and Orlando at a cost of $2.6 billion (about ¥21 billion), in 2015 and then building another line between Orlando and Miami.
The Japanese consortium faces stiff competition from Europe and China in its bid for the Florida project.
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