Lease obligations (Details 3) - ZHEJIANG TIANLAN	Dec. 31, 2019
Weighted-average remaining lease term - finance leases	1 year
Weighted-average discount rate - finance leases	5.90%

Weighted average remaining lease term for finance lease, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (g)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77888426&loc=SL77918686-209980

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/exampleRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 20
-Section 55
-Paragraph 53
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77888399&loc=SL77918982-209971

Name:	us-gaap_FinanceLeaseWeightedAverageRemainingLeaseTerm1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant