Not so long ago Japanese construction firms were the competitors that Western ones feared the most. But in less than a decade the Japanese have disappeared from International Construction magazine's annual top ten, with their places tak-en-inevitably-by the Chinese (see table). China's unprecedented construction boom has coincided with stagnation in Japan. Japanese firms have retreated just as the Chinese challengers have begun to explore the world. Many of the Chinese firms' earliest foreign forays were linked to their government's quest for minerals in sub-Saharan Africa-for instance, building railways from mines to ports. But now they are popping up all over the place.
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