China Builds Cruise Ships, Passenger
Jets
·
Engine
Technology Elusive
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Beijing
has taken strides in advanced manufacturing as part of efforts to be more self-reliant
in high-value-added industrial chains and to try to gain an upper hand in the
tech war with the United States
·
The
C919 is composed of more than 4 million parts, with key components such as the
engine, avionics and control systems sourced from overseas, especially from the
US.
·
More
than 200 domestic companies and nearly 200,000 professionals are involved in
the production and development of indigenous technology for the C919
·
With
a unit price of 653 million yuan (US$91 million), C919 orders have surpassed
1,000, mostly from domestic buyers.
·
The
number of parts needed for the cruise liner is around five times that of the
C919. Due to a lack of experience at home to meet the complicated and intricate
requirements, most supplies for the ship needed to be imported.
·
Luxury
cruise ships, together with liquefied natural gas vessels and aircraft
carriers, are considered “the three pearls of the crown” in shipbuilding, and
competition with South Korea is set to intensify as Beijing catches up with
Seoul in the high-value shipbuilding market.
·
It
took six years for Beijing to export bullet-train technology, and one decade to
become globally competitive, but it may take longer for the C919 to
substantially challenge the Boeing-Airbus duopoly.
As
the saying goes, you wait ages for a bus, and then three come along at once.
Well for China, it was not buses, but a plane and a cruise ship.
The
C919 is China’s first locally-built passenger jet, and Adora Magic City its
first home-grown large cruise liner, and both have taken significant steps in
recent weeks.
The
C919’s maiden commercial flight at the end of May and the sight of Adora Magic
City undocking in Shanghai earlier this month represented breakthroughs for
China’s advanced manufacturing and self-reliance drive.
In
August 2008, China's first bullet train started running between Beijing and
Tianjin. Four months later, the country kicked off the development of its
home-grown passenger jet, the C919.
It
took three years to build the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway, but 15 for
the first C919 to make its first commercial flight at the end of last month.
Just
over a week later, on June 6, China’s first locally built large cruise ship,
the Adora Magic City, left its dock in Shanghai.
Crossing
off milestones one after another, Beijing has taken
strides in advanced manufacturing as part of efforts to be more self-reliant in
high-value-added industrial chains and to try to gain an upper hand in the tech
war with the United States – a mission that, in Beijing’s view, it cannot
afford to lose as it seeks a new engine to power its economic growth.
Being
self-reliant, though, is not a new thing for China, and the narrow-body C919,
built by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), was not the country's first effort to develop its
own aircraft.
The
four-engine, narrow-body Y-10 commercial jet made its first flight in 1980, but
the dream to fly the country’s own commercial flight was grounded in 1985 due
to complicated political and economic reasons.
It
was also the year that Airbus entered the Chinese market, and it was not until
the early 2000s that Beijing decided to resume the project.
Designed
to compete with the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320 family of single-aisle
aircraft, the C919 completed its maiden commercial flight on May 28 from
Shanghai to Beijing, one of the country’s busiest routes.
The
second C919 is also likely to be delivered to China Eastern Airlines, which has
initially put the first on the route between Shanghai and Chengdu, and domestic
media reported it is expected to fly it on more routes in the future.
In
contrast, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in February abandoned its
decades-long efforts to build its home-grown passenger jet, citing technical
defects and high costs.
For
China, despite the national pride hailed by state media in self-sufficiency and
stronger competitiveness in the industrial supply chain, the C919 and Adora
Magic City are products of international cooperation.
The C919 is composed of more than 4
million parts, with key components such as the engine, avionics and control
systems sourced from overseas, especially from the US. Some parts are subject to licences
granted by the US Department of Commerce, and it may put production at risk if
Washington tightens export controls against China.
More than 200 domestic companies and
nearly 200,000 professionals are involved in the production and development of
indigenous technology for the C919,
while it also sources supplies from foreign partners
and 16 joint ventures with overseas firms, Comac
said.
The
huge market potential has raised expectations for a booming aircraft-production
supply chain, and in particular, for increasing the proportion of domestic
supplies.
Domestic
research agencies said the C919 supply chain will inevitably lead to progress
in new materials, aerospace technology and a talent pool at home.
The
Adora Magic City is also following a similar pattern in production. The number of parts needed for the cruise liner is around
five times that of the C919. Due to a lack of experience at home to meet the
complicated and intricate requirements, most supplies for the ship needed to be
imported.
Nevertheless,
the C919 and Adora Magic City have marked China’s advanced manufacturing
progress, as the nation continues to take steps towards boosting its
self-reliance in critical industries.