BEIJING: On August 1, the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC), headquartered in Shanghai, announced that the single-aisle C919 passenger jet it manufactured had undergone all the test flights necessary for obtaining a national airworthiness certificate. The jet is China’s first self-developed trunk jetliner.
The progress has been fast-tracked by the Yangtze River Delta integrated development strategy, which fosters close cooperation in the region that comprises Shanghai as well as Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.
A civil aviation industrial chain has been formed in the region. Aramid fiber honeycomb—an extremely lightweight, high strength, non-metallic honeycomb produced by Advanced Composite Technology Materials Co. Ltd. in Shanghai is used to make the baggage hold and ceiling of the plane. Hefei Jianghang Aircraft Equipment Co. Ltd. in Hefei, Anhui, produced the oxygen system for the plane. In February last year, the Suzhou Municipal Government in Jiangsu signed a contract with the COMAC for cooperation on cultivating and building an aviation industry cluster. According to the contract, the COMAC will support Suzhou enterprises in carrying out scientific innovation on new materials, electronic parts and components and numerically controlled machine tools, and participate in producing parts and components for the COMAC.
A plan for the development of the Yangtze River Delta region, which then comprised Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, was unveiled by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2010, which spelled out development goals to be achieved by 2015 and offered visions into 2020. According to the plan, the region will be developed into an important gateway for opening up in the Asia-Pacific region, a globally important center of modern service industry and advanced manufacturing industry, and a globally competitive world-class city cluster.
In 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the First China International Import Expo in Shanghai to make it a national strategy, indicating the great importance attached to the region’s integrated development.
In December 2019, the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council jointly issued an outline on the region’s integrated development. The document detailed development goals to be achieved by 2025 and offered visions into 2035. It also announced to include Anhui in the delta region.
By 2025, the Yangtze River Delta is to see substantial development and realize integration of its science and innovation industry, infrastructure, environment and public services, the document said.
–The Daily Mail-Beijing
Review news exchange item
