For Company and for Country: Boeing and US–China Relations

Abstract

This chapter traces the history in post-Mao China of the American multinational that perhaps best exemplifies the complex and nuanced layers of the US–China relationship: Boeing. The aviation giant is no nation-state, but its evolution in the Chinese market provides a unique window into the forces that have both fortified the bilateral relationship and might now pull it apart. Neil Thomas digs into the historical archives and presents a case study of how Boeing played a starring role both in prying open markets in China and in American debates on China’s eventual accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Both the consequences and rewards of Boeing’s operations in China are at the heart of rethinking the US approach to China.