China Southern must focus on international expansion due to threat by high-speed rail: Chairman

China Southern Airlines Chairman, Si Xianmin, stated in order for the carrier to effectively deal with the impact posed by the country's high-speed rail network, the carrier must focus its expansion on international and domestic emerging markets, increasing its proportion of international services from 15% to 30% within three years (XKB.com.cn, 30-Apr-2010). China Eastern Airlines previously stated the carrier plans to increase its domestic to international profit ratio from 7:3 to 6:4 this year. Meanwhile, Mr Si has identified Xinjiang and Hainan as emerging markets with potential in China.