US tech restrictions leave China’s aviation advances up in the air as decoupling trumps trade
- As Washington ramps up efforts to cut off China from critical technology, Beijing is looking to carve out its own piece of the global aviation supply chain
- But analysts warn that Beijing’s push to bolster domestic innovation will be a costly and years-long process ‘unless China changes its aggressive course’
China’s ambitions of becoming a key player in the global aviation supply chain will face more hurdles as Washington moves away from a growth-based trade policy and steps up efforts to slow Beijing’s technological and military advances, according to analysts.
“Unless the People’s Republic of China changes its aggressive course, decoupling will continue, at least as far as key strategic sectors are concerned,” said Aboulafia, an expert in aerospace industry trends.
“The biggest consequence would be the impact on China’s own aircraft-development programmes. The biggest risk is to the trade in the technologies and systems that are necessary to make them functioning products.”
Beijing has repeatedly said it is committed to a path of peaceful development, reforms and opening up, regardless of changes in the international landscape. And leaders have also vowed that China will not cut itself off from the outside world, even as it supports domestic innovation.