“Airshow China,” the huge aerospace trade show that’s known officially as the “China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition,” ended Sunday in the southern-coast city of Zhuhai. It was the seventh time the event has been held.

As a journalist who has followed both the aerospace sector and China’s global emergence for many years, I can honestly say that I wasn’t surprised when China recently announced its intent to get into the jumbo-jet airliner business.