President Xi Jinping is the latest among Chinese leaders to visit the Boeing factory in Everett during his first state visit to the United States last Sept. 23. A visit to the factory located in the state of Washington has seemingly become a tradition for Chinese leaders visiting America.
Boeing Commercial airplanes president and CEO Raymond Connor, along with other executives, accompanied President Xi on his tour around the factory.
Xi visited the assembly lines for the aircrafts 787, 777 and 747-8, as well as the assembly lines for the aircraft parts and components flown from Chinese suppliers.
The aircraft manufacturer and China have a longstanding history. Boeing first entered the Chinese market in 1972 thanks to former president Nixon, who fixed a deal to sell 10 airplanes to Beijing.
Seven years later, Deng Xiaoping flew to the U.S. for an official visit and a tour of Boeing's headquarters and 747 assembly line in Seattle.
China and Boeing are currently in talks for the acquisition of 6,330 aircraft estimated to be worth around $100 billion, to be delivered over the next two decades, according to a report by Time Weekly.
Along with the promise of continued cooperation with their Chinese clients and suppliers, Boeing announced several agreements that aim to expand their operations in China and their support of the Chinese aviation industry.
"Just like in the early stages of reforms, the government focused on the auto manufacturing industry which has gradually developed into the mainstay industry. Now the government hopes to develop aircraft manufacturing into a new mainstay industry," said Li Xiaojin, director of the Aviation Transport Economics Research Institute at the Civil Aviation University of China in Tianjin.
A memorandum of understanding with China's National Development and Reform Commission was also signed by Boeing. It aims to promote cooperation in the development of sustainable aviation biofuel and industrial upgrading.