China urges US not to block GE engine sales for C919 airliner

Washington is using political means to undermine business cooperation between China and the US if the US government decides to block engine sales of General Electric Co for China's C919 airliner, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday.

His remarks were made in response to a report by the Wall Street Journal that the US government is considering this proposal, as some within the administration are concerned that the Chinese could reverse-engineer the engines, allowing China to break into the global jet-engine market, undermining US business interests.

"We noted this report," Geng said at the ministry's online press conference.

The report also says that GE is arguing against the possible move of the US government, saying that mimicking the advanced manufacturing techniques that have produced the engine is far harder than some administration officials believe.

"GE has also argued, the engines have been on the ground in China for years, meaning that Chinese manufacturers could have already begun the reverse-engineering. Why wait until now to do so?" Geng said.

But Geng said it is still necessary to check if the content of the report is true.

If it is, it will be another example of the US using political means to undermine its bilateral business cooperation with China and wantonly oppress Chinese businesses, he said.

According to Geng, it also will show that some US administration officials are ignorant about science and technology and of the market principle, and they also are in a panic about China's development.

"Americans in industrial sectors seem to have more common sense, and be more sensible and likely to tell the truth than certain officials in the US administration," he said.

The spokesman noted that recent moves taken by the US side not only hurt the interests of Chinese companies, but also that of American businesses in the long run.

Worse, it will seriously disrupt bilateral, and even global, exchange and cooperation in science, technology and trade, he said.

"We urge the US to view Chinese companies and China-US business cooperation in an objective and fair way, and work as a constructive contributor rather than an irrational spoiler," Geng added.