Boeing will continue its investment in China in the next two decades to ensure its status as a major provider of commercial airplanes to China, the company's senior official said in an interview with Xinhua here on Monday.

In Boeing's 2006 Current Market Outlook released last Wednesday,the U.S. plane maker projects a need for approximately 27,200 new commercial airplanes worldwide, and the Asia-Pacific region is believed to be the largest market, Larry Dickenson, the senior vice president of sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes told Xinhua at the Farnborough International Airshow in southern England.

"Our advantages are, if we have advantages... that we have been working in China for 34 years," Dickenson said, adding the Boeing has helped train about 15,000 Chinese professionals in maintenance,piloting and executive training.

"We look at China as a strategic partner force. And its airlinehas matured, and continues to grow primarily with Boeing equipment and Boeing training. So we are going to work with China as a partner," Dickenson said.

"We believe that as our products become more and more competitive, there is no reason to believe that we should not be, continue to be the major provider of airplanes to China in the future," said Dickenson.

When asked about whether Boeing is considering building an assembly line in China just like its competitor Airbus, Dickenson said Boeing was probably not going to change its strategy towards China, and it would continue to invest in China in the areas of spare parts manufacturing, maintenance, repair and air traffic control.

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