Hong Kong CNN —China is claiming a historic win this week after its answer to Boeing and Airbus, the C919, took to the skies for its first commercial flight.
But instead of boosting China’s global stature in technology innovation, experts say the C919 is a symbol of its continued reliance on the West.
COMAC’s first commercial plane, by comparison, is a much smaller regional jet called the ARJ21, which can only fly up to 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) and accommodate up to 97 passengers.
Technicians working on a COMAC C919 aircraft under assembly at the COMAC Shanghai Research and Development Center in 2017.
Boeing and Airbus also depend on “high-quality global suppliers,” state-run newspaper China Daily said in an editorial Wednesday.
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