Beijing has high hopes for its C919 single-aisle jet after years of delay, but the plane depends on engines, avionics and other gear from Western companies.
President Trump’s decision this week to restrict the export of American aerospace technology to China follows years of rising anxiety in Washington about the role of American companies in helping China build a competitor to Boeing.
In 2008, China established the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or COMAC, with the goal of putting a single-aisle commercial jet into service by 2016.
Development of the plane has been slow. The company, which occupies a large expanse of newly built hangars and design studios in Shanghai, suffered delays despite extensive assistance from American and European companies. Its plane, the C919, did not go into commercial service until 2023.
Still, Beijing takes great pride in the C919. State media describes it as one of the country’s “pillars of a great power” with “technology to help civil aviation development and achieve military-civilian integration.”
The C919 is also a symbol of an earlier era in Sino-American relations, when many in the United States hoped that closer economic cooperation would lead to more democracy in China and a lessening of geopolitical tensions. When Beijing set up COMAC, American and European companies rushed into partnerships to help it build the C919.
But the political backdrop has changed drastically in the years since Xi Jinping became China’s top leader in 2012. Mr. Xi has overseen a rapid military buildup and a more assertive policy on Taiwan, the South China Sea and other potential flash points.