Can the Chinese Create a Competitive Commercial Aviation Industry?

For decades, conventional wisdom feared that newly industrialized nations, most notably China, would supplant or “hollow-out” U.S. industry. And, indeed, evidence indicates that by some measurements, China has accumulated the expertise and resources to challenge major pillars of U.S. industrial strength. In textiles, furniture, electronics assembly, metals and basic auto parts, China has slowly driven out American suppliers inside China and around the world. In the last ten years or so, Chinese makers of solar and wind energy equipment, high-speed trains and machine tools have also become dominant — often aided and abetted by concerted industrial strategies on the part of the Chinese government.