Boeing’s commercial aircraft sales to China have slowed to a trickle as U.S.-Chinese relations have soured. But there are new prospects for the company to regain traction. A meeting this month between President Biden and President Xi Jinping of China did not yield public progress toward resuming plane sales, but it may ease tensions between the two countries, boding well for Boeing, a giant of American manufacturing. Perhaps more important, Boeing and China still need each other. “There’s lots of incentives for everyone to do a deal here,” said Eddy…
Tag: Airlines and Airplanes
China’s Military is Making Risky Moves and Adding Nuclear Warheads, U.S. Says
Risky Maneuvers Since the fall of 2021, the Pentagon report says, the United States has recorded more than 180 intercepts of U.S. aircraft by Chinese military forces in the region. Beijing has long bristled at the U.S. military aircraft and ships that operate in international skies and seas near China. China has been increasingly assertive in the region, from building military infrastructure in the disputed South China Sea to buzzing planes flown by the United States, Canada and other Western allies. Such moves risk a midair crash and a wider…
China Conducts Major Military Exercises in Western Pacific
The joint exercises come after the United States conducted a series of military drills across the region in recent weeks with allies like Japan, Australia and the Philippines. On Saturday, the American and Canadian navies sailed ships through the Taiwan Strait. What We Know China’s Shandong aircraft carrier was one of at least 20 Chinese naval vessels spotted navigating waters around Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines starting on Tuesday, according to the Japanese and Taiwanese governments. Other vessels identified by Japanese officials included missile destroyers, frigates and supply ships. China…
China’s Military, ‘Chasing the Dream,’ Probes Taiwan’s Defenses
China has been steadily intensifying military pressure on Taiwan over the past year, sending jets, drones, bombers and other planes farther and in greater numbers to extend an intimidating presence all around the island. Chinese naval ships and air force planes have been edging closer to Taiwan’s territorial seas and skies, probing the island’s vigilance and trying to wear down its military planes and ships. Chinese forces have also been operating more frequently in skies and waters off the island’s eastern coast, facing the West Pacific. China’s increasing presence there…
China Crosses Milestone With C919 Flight but Has Long Way to Go
Millions of flights take off and land in China every year, almost all of them using planes made by Boeing and Airbus, the world’s two leading aircraft manufacturers. For years, China has been working to change that and, this week, it celebrated a milestone in that quest: the first commercial flight of a large passenger jet made in China. The C919 jet, made by Comac, a Chinese state-run aerospace manufacturer, flew about 130 passengers from Shanghai to Beijing for China Eastern Airlines on Sunday, according to Chinese state media. It…
Cathay Pacific Struggles With Aftermath of Covid, and China Crackdown
Few major airlines in the world were hit by the Covid pandemic as hard as Cathay Pacific, the flagship carrier of Hong Kong, or have labored so mightily to recover from it. Its business was decimated by some of the industry’s most expansive flight bans and quarantine requirements. And the pandemic wasn’t the start of Cathay’s troubles. In 2019, when Hong Kong was convulsed by pro-democracy protests, Cathay Pacific was caught in the crossfire with Beijing. Flights were canceled or delayed by airport sit-ins involving thousands of demonstrators, among them…
Biden Team to Counter Tech Espionage Unveils Cases Involving China and Russia
The Biden administration announced arrests and criminal charges on Tuesday in five cases involving sanctions evasion and technology espionage efforts linked to Russia, China and Iran. Two Russian nationals were taken into custody last week under accusations of sending aircraft parts to Russia in violation of sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine. In another case, a former Apple engineer is accused of stealing the company’s autonomous vehicle technology to provide it to a Chinese competitor. The announcements were the work of a recently established “technology strike force,” which aims…
China’s Top Airship Scientist Promoted Program to Watch the World From Above
The balloon that was launched in July 2019, Professor Wu said then, was a “big guy,” nearly 330 feet in length and weighing several tons, which appears to be bigger than the balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina by an American fighter jet this month. “This is the first time that an aerodynamically controlled airship has flown around the world in the stratosphere at 20,000 meters,” or about 65,000 feet high, Professor Wu told an outlet of the Southern Daily newspaper of Guangdong Province. The…
As China Drops Travel Rules, Wariness Rises Over its Covid Outbreak
For the past three years, China largely shut its borders and kept its people home, retreating from the global engagement that was the foundation for its rise. As the country now prepares to gradually reopen its doors to help rescue a faltering economy, the world is both excited about the potential boon for business and tourism, but wary about exposure to a country facing an explosion of Covid cases. Starting Jan. 8, China will drop its strict quarantine requirements for travelers arriving from abroad and lift rules that had limited…
China to Drop Covid Quarantine for Incoming Travelers
China on Monday announced that travelers from overseas would no longer be required to enter quarantine upon arrival, in one of the country’s most significant steps toward reopening since the coronavirus pandemic began. From Jan. 8, incoming travelers will be required to show only a negative polymerase chain reaction, or P.C.R., test within 48 hours before departure, China’s National Health Commission said. Limitations on the number of incoming flights will also be eased. The travel restrictions had isolated the world’s most populous country for nearly three years. Foreigners were essentially…