China’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) states that the general aviation industry’s development will be
promoted, reform the airspace management system as well as increase the efficiency of the allocation and utilization of airspace resources. Bright sky for China’s aviation industry. But what about foreign aviation companies, will they be able to takeoff or will they stay grounded.
Like all governments the Chinese government is giving its national aircraft corporation, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC), support. The government made it obligatory for foreign aviation companies that want to supply to China to partner with COMAC and establish joint-ventures to get technology transfer via the ARJ21 and C919 projects. No company, including Western companies wants to give its intellectual property away without compensation. Therefore those Western companies that agreed to the terms of technology transfer for the C919 did so with old versions of their technology.
Cliff, Ohlandt and Yang write in their report ‘Ready for Takeoff’ sponsored by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review (USCC) that joint ventures per se do not guarantee effective market access, but that the inverse, “those that do not provide access to coveted technologies or—even more problematically—are perceived to compete against domestic producers are not likely to receive preferential treatment and may indeed face severe obstacles.”
Read Roger Cliff, Chad J.R. Ohlandt, David Yang, Ready for Takeoff, China’s Advancing Aerospace
Industry RAND National Security Research Division, sponsored by the U.S.-China Economic and
Security Review Commission, 2011, available here.
Wonderful characters 飞 fei 机 ji mean literally “bird machine” = airplane
