With Russian support, China broadcasts export ambitions at air show

The show has been taking place against a backdrop of a tariff spat with the United States and U.S. accusations of espionage by China's state aerospace apparatus.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said weeks before the show that Russia and China should work together to oppose protectionism and what he called unilateral approaches to international problems, a veiled reference to U.S. foreign policy.

The two countries unveiled a mock-up of the CR929 wide-body civil jet, widely seen as a high-level initiative, and signed a helicopter sale in one of the few deals.

A senior executive at Russian state conglomerate Rostec told Reuters both countries were keen to develop their civil aircraft building capabilities to reduce their dependence on the Western companies that currently dominate the supply chain.

"The Chinese-Russian aircraft is showing that they have a choice, that they don't have to buy (aircraft) from the West and that if there are any problems on trade they can develop perfectly adequately in cooperation with Russia," said aerospace analyst Sash Tusa of Britain-based Agency Partners.

Helping efforts to showcase the strides China is making in aviation was Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), which wants to become a serious competitor to Boeing and Airbus and regional jet players Canada and Brazil.

Three of its self-developed ARJ-21 regional jets, decorated in the liveries of customers including Genghis Khan Airlines, flew demonstrations in a performance some analysts said indicated that the problematic programme was turning a corner.

COMAC's General Manager Zhao Yuerang told a news conference attended by Chinese government officials that the company now plans to deliver 100 ARJ-21 planes within the next five years.

"We have smoothly passed the difficult teething period that every new plane model has to face," he said.

Some industry executives, however, said it was difficult to ignore some glaring holes in China's carefully orchestrated show of strength, noting attendance numbers appeared to have fallen.

It took place in the same week as a Shanghai import expo, viewed as one of China's most important foreign policy events for the year. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, citing military insiders, that organisers had scaled back the Zhuhai event due to trade tensions and reduced funding.

There were also a number of no-shows among the range of domestic products that China was expected to put on display.

In a separate report, the SCMP reported the WS-15 Emei engine for the J-20 fighter was not used as had been expected.

COMAC did not bring its banner product, the narrowbody C919, which has been in flight tests for over a year. COMAC officials said its two C919 planes were busy flight testing.

A senior industry executive called this a deliberate "PR strategy" to focus attention on the CR929 and its wider political message of joint Chinese-Russian resilience to U.S. pressure. But others said it was hard to escape the narrower explanation that the programme itself was under strain.

"This does not reflect terribly well for the country’s broader ambitions in this field," Tusa said.