A JF-17 Thunder fighter jet of Pakistan Air Force performs during the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, or Zhuhai Airshow, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China November 6, 2018.
China paraded industrial and military clout and sent deliberate signals to Western rivals that its aerospace and arms industries aim to catch them up on world markets, while playing down trade tensions at the nation's largest air show this week.
The biennial event in the coastal city of Zhuhai has traditionally been used by Beijing to show off its growing aviation capability, but is also keenly watched by the global industry for clues on where it faces obstacles.
Beijing not only showed off a range of new military kit for export, but unveiled progress in civil wide-body and regional jet programmes and deeper cooperation with Russia in a message to the West, industry watchers said.
"You get a real sense of the scale and speed of the development of the past 25 years. They have covered an enormous amount of ground in a really short space of time in terms of defence and aerospace," said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the London-based IISS thinktank.
China's most cutting-edge military equipment and aircraft have been dazzling onlookers at the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition (Airshow China), which is being held in Zhuhai City of south China's Guangdong Province. The Bayi Aerobatic Team from the Chinese Air Force showed off its new stunts while China's Hongying Aerobatic Team made its first appearance at the Airshow. China's self-made air-freighter Y-20 and Pakistan's JF-17 Thunder fighter were also present in Zhuhai.
China's cutting-edge military equipment, aircraft highlighted at Zhuhai Airshow
"Everything we have been shown here is pretty much for the export market. You then wonder what isn't being shown; what are they keeping for themselves in terms of capability?"
On display in the sprawling 'weaponry hall' and on other stages to military visitors from Africa to Southeast Asia were ground vehicles, drones ranging from miniature to aircraft-sized and new anti-ship ballistic missiles.
China's new J-20 stealth jet performed a five-minute-long demonstration - in contrast to a prudent 60-second debut two years ago - though the jet is not expected to be sold overseas.
German car maker Volkswagen AG signed what looked like a meaty deal with one of its China joint ventures this week at a huge new trade show in Shanghai to ship almost $9 billion worth of cars and parts to China next year.But it turns out the "Memorandum of Cooperation", one of hundreds of deals inked at the China International Import Expo that wraps up on Saturday, represents business as usual for VW.Two sources close to the company and its FAW-Volkswagen tie-up said the joint venture would have imported the cars and parts with or without the expo to support its day-to-day manufacturing and sales operations, as it does every year. FAW-Volkswagen did not have an immediate comment.While the giant import fair is a key part of China's response to growing complaints about its commercial policies, critics said the tightly choreographed event was more show than substance that failed to address core issues at the heart of the festering U.S.-China trade war.US accuses China of violating bilateral anti-hacking deal"I don't think we're holding out high hopes for the expo in terms of improving China's trade relationship with the rest of the world," said Duncan Innes-Ker, regional director for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit."People really want to see a generalised improvement in the fairness of the operating environment, not a specific commitment to importing more in this particular year or whatever."State media has lavished praise on the event, which was headlined by President Xi Jinping, who provided few specifics in his opening speech about how China would address complaints on issues like market access and intellectual property rights protection."The Shanghai expo will act as a demonstration before billions of global observers that China is letting the market play the decisive role in its business operations," the Global Times newspaper said.How Mattis is trying to keep US-China tensions from boiling overThe expo's organisers were less laissez faire, and the heavy hand of the state, from stifling security to pressure on state-owned enterprises to do deals, was ever-present.Schools were closed across Shanghai, a city of more than 24 million people, on the first two days of the expo and cars without special passes were blocked from approaching the enormous clover-shaped exhibition hall.Inside, guards and police blanketed the venue and lined walkways to and from the subway. Participants were required to undergo airport-level security and a long list of items, from daggers to Frisbees, were banned."I'm not sure what they are trying to protect with all of this security," one foreign industry VIP said.Hundreds of student volunteers in red blazers offered directions around the venue, which boasts an exhibition area roughly the size of 40 football pitches and a multi-storey maze of roads, meeting rooms, offices and restaurants.One Reuters journalist clocked more than 17,000 steps of walking at the expo in one day, or roughly 12 km.ACTORS AND OLD DEALSMany of the deals touted at the fair, like Volkswagen's, appeared to be either business agreements that would not ordinarily warrant publicity, or the announcement of previously agreed contracts, according to executives.After one signing, a foreign participant told Reuters that he had nothing to do with the company he was representing."Everything you saw at the signing ceremony was theatre or farce. I'm essentially an actor, hired for the duration of the expo, in order to give the impression of international cooperation," the person said, asking not to be named.Chinese companies have been known to hire foreigners to impersonate executives at events, presumably to lend an air of international legitimacy.On Wednesday at the expo, China's state-run offshore oil and gas company CNOOC Ltd signed 20 deals with foreign businesses, including Siemens, Caterpillar and Schlumberger.Two people involved in the signings said the deals were non-binding "memoranda of understanding", or letters of intent, with existing partners. CNOOC executives declined to provide details.Merck Group's CEO for performance materials, Kai Beckmann, said deals aren't everything."For us as a global company, any signal that promotes free trade and global collaboration is highly appreciated and welcome, and this platform was used for that purpose," he said."In the old days, these kinds of exhibitions and trade fairs were used to sign deals. But now you do the deals through e-commerce and you don't need trade fairs for that."The strategy for some of the more than 180 American companies at the expo seemed to be to wait and see."We will continue to do what we are doing and hopefully that will resolve itself between both of our governments," said Henry Irizarry, a vice president at Jeanerette, Louisiana-based Metal Shark Boats, referring to the China-U.S. trade war.At the media centre, a robot on wheels named 'Xiao Bao', or Little Leopard, scooted to and fro, showing reporters to the bathroom and answering basic questions.Asked where Xi Jinping was, Xiao Bao could give a rundown of news of the day involving the Chinese leader.It was unable to respond when asked multiple times how the China-U.S. trade conflict could be resolved. 
China's choreographed trade expo more 'theatre' than deal clincher
NO NEED FOR THE WEST
The show has been taking place against a backdrop of a tariff spat with the United States and U.S. accusations of espionage by China's state aerospace apparatus.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said weeks before the show that Russia and China should work together to oppose protectionism and what he called unilateral approaches to international problems, a veiled reference to U.S. foreign policy.
The two countries unveiled a mock-up of the CR929 wide-body civil jet, widely seen as a high-level initiative, and signed a helicopter sale in one of the few deals.
A senior executive at Russian state conglomerate Rostec told Reuters both countries were keen to develop their civil aircraft building capabilities to reduce their dependence on the Western companies that currently dominate the supply chain.
China has been violating an agreement with the United States aimed at stopping cyber espionage through the hacking of government and corporate data, a senior U.S. intelligence official said on Thursday.When asked if China was violating the 2015 agreement between then President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, National Security Agency official Rob Joyce said: "We think they are."But he added that the quantity and number of attacks had dropped "dramatically" since the agreement."While it's not black and white, (China) met the agreement or they didn't meet the agreement, it's clear that they are well beyond the bounds today of the agreement that was forged between our countries," Joyce said.How Mattis is trying to keep US-China tensions from boiling overSpeaking in Beijing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying rejected the U.S. allegations."The U.S. accusations lack factual basis. China firmly opposes them," she told a daily news briefing.China and the United States have important shared interests in cyberspace, Hua said."We urge the U.S. side to cease its baseless criticism of China, and meet China halfway in jointly safeguarding the two countries' momentum for cooperation and communication in the realm of cybersecurity," she said.In September 2015, Obama announced he had reached a "common understanding" with China's Xi on curbing economic cyber espionage, but threatened to impose U.S. sanctions on Chinese hackers who persist in committing cyber crimes.Russia clashes with Western oil buyers over new deals as sanctions loomThe two leaders said they agreed that neither government would knowingly support cyber theft of corporate secrets or business information.The agreement, however, stopped short of any promise to refrain from traditional government-to-government cyber spying for intelligence purposes.That could include the massive hack of the U.S. federal government's personnel office this year that compromised the data of more than 20 million people. U.S. officials have traced that back to China, but have not said whether they believe the Chinese government was responsible.The United States and China will hold a delayed top-level security dialogue on Friday, the latest sign of a thaw in the countries' strained relations amid an ongoing trade row ahead of a planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Argentina at the end of November. 
US accuses China of violating bilateral anti-hacking deal
"The Chinese-Russian aircraft is showing that they have a choice, that they don't have to buy (aircraft) from the West and that if there are any problems on trade they can develop perfectly adequately in cooperation with Russia," said aerospace analyst Sash Tusa of Britain-based Agency Partners.
Helping efforts to showcase the strides China is making in aviation was Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), which wants to become a serious competitor to Boeing and Airbus and regional jet players Canada and Brazil.
Three of its self-developed ARJ-21 regional jets, decorated in the liveries of customers including Genghis Khan Airlines, flew demonstrations in a performance some analysts said indicated that the problematic programme was turning a corner.
COMAC's General Manager Zhao Yuerang told a news conference attended by Chinese government officials that the company now plans to deliver 100 ARJ-21 planes within the next five years.
"We have smoothly passed the difficult teething period that every new plane model has to face," he said.
NO-SHOWS
Some industry executives, however, said it was difficult to ignore some glaring holes in China's carefully orchestrated show of strength, noting attendance numbers appeared to have fallen.
It took place in the same week as a Shanghai import expo, viewed as one of China's most important foreign policy events for the year. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, citing military insiders, that organisers had scaled back the Zhuhai event due to trade tensions and reduced funding.
There were also a number of no-shows among the range of domestic products that China was expected to put on display.
In a separate report, the SCMP reported the WS-15 Emei engine for the J-20 fighter was not used as had been expected.
COMAC did not bring its banner product, the narrowbody C919, which has been in flight tests for over a year. COMAC officials said its two C919 planes were busy flight testing.
A senior industry executive called this a deliberate "PR strategy" to focus attention on the CR929 and its wider political message of joint Chinese-Russian resilience to U.S. pressure. But others said it was hard to escape the narrower explanation that the programme itself was under strain.
"This does not reflect terribly well for the country’s broader ambitions in this field," Tusa said.