Chinese President Xi Jinping visits aircraft maker supplying helicopters for PLA’s Taiwan sorties

Xi visited Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation during an inspection tour of eastern Jiangxi province, Xinhua reports
Changhe’s Z-8 and Z -10 attack helicopters have been reported to be part of PLA sorties into Taiwan’s air defence zone over the past three years

China’s military

Phoebe Zhang

Published: 6:02pm, 12 Oct 2023

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A Chinese aircraft manufacturer whose military helicopters have been deployed by the People’s Liberation Army near the border with India and in the Taiwan Strait received a visit from President Xi Jinping earlier this week.

Xi stopped at the Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation on Wednesday as he toured the cities of Jingdezhen and Shangrao in Jiangxi province, a Xinhua report published on Thursday said.

Other stops on his inspection visit included a historic pottery protection district, a wetland park and village, the report said.

Changhe, set up 54 years ago, mainly makes and distributes helicopters and related parts. It also provides aircraft testing and maintenance services, according to its official website.

“We implement Xi Jinping Thought on strengthening the military and are committed to providing cutting-edge aviation weapons and equipment for national defence and military modernisation,” the company website says, referring to the president’s signature political thoughts and vision for the country.

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It also highlights its attack helicopters and drones, including the Z-8, Z-10 and Z-11 military helicopters, as well as civil aviation aircraft including the AC313, AC311 and AC310.

Changhe has delivered close to 1,000 aircraft, the website says. Changhe aircraft have been part of important missions and marches, including parades and celebrations, providing security for the Beijing Winter Olympics last year and international rescue missions, it adds.

The Z-8 and Z -10 attack helicopters have been part of PLA sorties into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone reported by the island’s defence ministry over the past three years, as Beijing ramps up military pressure on Taipei.

In July, the Z-8 helicopter appeared in the PLA’s mock rescue drills that simulated airlifting wounded troops from an unidentified island off the coast of eastern Zhejiang province, which is about 700km (435 miles) from Taiwan.

It was the first drill of its kind carried out by the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command, which oversees the Taiwan Strait, and focused on speeding up troop evacuation from “medium- to long-distance islands” in both peace and wartime, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

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Xi – who started a historic third term in March – arrived for his tour of Jiangxi on Tuesday.

He began in the city of Jiujiang, on the southern shores of the Yangtze, where he visited the Yangtze River National Cultural Park and a local sub-branch of Sinopec. He inspected shoreline restoration and the petrochemical giant’s transformation and efforts towards green development.

This was Xi’s third visit to Jiangxi since he first came to power in 2012.

The province is an old revolutionary base for the Communist Party of China. It is home to the cities of Ganzhou, one of the starting points of the Long March; Ruijin, where Mao Zedong founded the “Chinese Soviet Republic”; and Jinggangshan, where the first rural revolutionary base was set up and the pivotal Fourth Red Army was created in the civil war against the ruling Kuomintang.

In 2016, Xi visited Jinggangshan to pay his respects at the graves of revolutionary martyrs, and in 2019 he visited the starting point of the Long March in Yudu county.