China’s catching up in aerospace

Since the foundation of the People's Republic in 1949, China (PRC) has made strong efforts to build an independent aircraft industry, both civilian and military. During the first decade of its existence, the PRC received technology from the Soviet Union, while it started to build its domestic public institutions for research and teaching. After the Sino-Russian split in 1966, the flow of Soviet technology ebbed. Since 1972, the PRC started progressively to tap Western sources of technology, and is now close to launch its own commercial aircraft industry with a view to global markets. The paper analyses the strategies of the Chinese government for domestic institution building and international technology transfer, and how Western companies and governments helped China to nurture its future competitors.