"The Transrapid must be built in Germany now, not in 2010 or 2012," Stoiber told the mass-circulation daily Bild.

"Our technological lead with the Transrapid over China is only a matter of a few years. If we won't act now, this technology will no longer be exported by Germany but by the Chinese," the head of the conservative CSU party said.

"It would be a joke if a high-tech country like Germany came up with all the inventions, but the Far East made all the money out of them."

Transrapid is a high-speed magnetic levitation (maglev) train designed and built by engineering giants Siemens and ThyssenKrupp.

It is already in commercial operation in China on a 38-kilometre route between Shanghai and Pudong and a second much longer 160-kilometre route between Shanghai and Hanghzou is currently under discussion.

However, Chinese newspaper reports have suggested that China wants to build its own maglev train without using the Transrapid technology.

"What is going on in China now smells like technology theft," Stoiber said.

While it was developed in Germany, the high-tech Transrapid has encountered a number of big setbacks in its home country, with none of the original projects to use it on a commercial basis in Germany ever coming to fruition.

Nevertheless, other countries, including Britain, appear to be interested in the technology.

Even the United States congress last year approved 90 million dollars to look into the construction of two possible routes.

Stoiber suggested that a first domestic Transrapid link could be built between Bavarian capital of Munich and its airport 32 kilometres away.

"If all goes well, the construction rights for the link could be ready by the end of this year," he said.

The project could be financed jointly the federal government, the Bavarian state government and the state-owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn, Stoiber suggested.

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