Because the conversation is about rail transport between Europe and post-soviet Europe. It would in fact be surprising to see China being mentioned at all, give

Because the conversation is about rail transport between Europe and post-soviet Europe. It would in fact be surprising to see China being mentioned at all, given it's complete irrelevance to the conversation at hand. And no I'd pretty easily say that Chinese rail is not the most advanced in the world. That award would go to Japan. (China buys (or steals) their technology from Japan and also Europe.)