'At the moment, there is a great distance (between us). If the German industry thinks that it has spent so much money that it must now get it all back and also make large profits, then the rail line will not happen,' Wu Xiangming said during the visit to Shanghai of Bavarian Economy and Transport Minister Erwin Huber.
Wu was placing the blame for the failed conclusion of the rail contract indirectly at the feet of German partners Siemens and Thyssen Krupp.
'Negotiations are continuing,' Dieter Hoffmann, executive director of Siemens' transportation systems locomotives division said.
The two sides failed to finalize the agreement for the 170- kilometre rail-line extension during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to China last week.
The Chinese side is believed to have demanded large government subsidies, media reports said.
'My impression is that the German press does not know the real background. With their reporting, they are stoking a particular atmosphere,' Wu, commonly known as Commander Wu, said.
Earlier Saturday, Minister Huber travelled with the existing maglev train in Shanghai that connects the city's underground system to the new international airport at Pudong.
'It was an exhilarating feeling,' Huber said after the magnetically levitated journey that reached speeds of up to 431 kilometres per hour.
By riding the maglev train in Shanghai, which was constructed in partnership with the Germans, Huber was signalling his desire for the construction of a maglev line between the Bavarian capital Munich's airport and its main railway station.
'Munich is the last chance for this technology in Germany,' Huber said.
The minister ended his four-day visit to China in Shanghai. He had been to Jinan and Guangzhou, the capitals of Bavaria's partner provinces of Shandong and Guangdong. He had also visited the Chinese capital Beijing.
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