China's domestically developed aircraft engines are capturing the limelight at the ongoing 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in the southern coastal city of Zhuhai, wowing visitors with their cutting-edge technologies and energy-efficient designs.
The exhibition kicked off in Zhuhai City of Guangdong Province on Tuesday, showcasing the latest in aircraft, spacecraft, and weaponry, along with impressive aerial performances.
Among the attention-grabbing exhibits, a number of innovative aircraft engines are demonstrating China's gains in this competitive and fast-evolving industry, spanning the gamut from fighter jet engines to those for civilian aircraft.
As an important aviation enterprise, Aero Engine Corporation of China, or AECC, is engaged in the development, production and maintenance of aircraft engines, gas turbines, and more. Its turbojet engines, turbofans, and turbo-shafts have been widely installed in various types of military and civilian aircraft.
The company's star product, the AEF1200, debuted at the event, catching eyes with its sheer size. It is the country's first self-developed high bypass ratio dual rotor turbofan engine, a highly efficient type of jet engine that uses two sets of rotating blades to compress air, with most of the air bypassing the engine core to create thrust more quietly and with better fuel efficiency. This design will help China's large airplanes fly farther on less fuel while keeping engine noise down.
AECC also displayed new engines designed for helicopters and drones, which are expected to be increasingly important in coming years.
"Our AES100 engine is an advanced turbo-shaft engine independently developed by AECC in response to the national call for the development of the low-altitude economy, which is energy-saving and environmentally friendly. It is equipped with a very useful health-monitoring system. So, its stability and reliability can also be assured. The AEP100 is a 900-kilowatt turboprop engine developed by us using a turboshaft engine. It can also be used in drones, business jets, and trainer aircraft," said Liu Jie, a staff member at AECC.
Since its launch, the event, also known as Airshow China, has been one of the top five airshows worldwide. This year, nearly 900 enterprises from 47 countries and regions are participating, with 149 of them global attendees.
China's high-tech, energy-efficient aircraft engines showcased at Zhuhai Airshow
Russian political experts said the upcoming talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine amount to technical consultations, with almost no room for negotiation on core issues, making major breakthroughs unlikely.
The trilateral talks on the Ukraine issue will be held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, from Tuesday to Wednesday. Security guarantees for the parties, confidence-building measures and humanitarian efforts are among the topics for discussion.
"These are consultations, not negotiations. Discussions are underway on important, but in principle, technical questions. That is, they will not talk about territories, they will not talk about the nature of the regime, they will not talk about Ukraine's internal rules regarding language and Russian culture," said Dmitry Trenin, chairman of the Russian International Affairs Council.
"In my view, the Ukrainian side is not independent. The shadow of the European Union is always looming there. And in current conditions, the Europeans, by and large, do not want to make concessions to Russia," said Andrey Sidorov, associate professor at the History Department of Moscow State University.
Russian President Vladimir Putin set out Moscow's position at a meeting with the Foreign Ministry leadership in June 2024, saying Russia would declare a ceasefire and begin talks as soon as Ukrainian forces withdraw from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and Kiev announces it will not join NATO.
"When our president articulated these demands, a corresponding caveat was made - that if you do not meet us halfway now, our positions may harden according to the real situation on the ground. And Ukraine and the West are letting the time slip away," said Andrey Koshkin, head of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
Ahead of the Abu Dhabi talks, a humanitarian operation was carried out in the city of Oleshky in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, evacuating hundreds of civilians to safe locations.
According to Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Russia prioritizes achieving its goals by peaceful means. On Friday, Putin also invited members of the Russian negotiation team to a meeting with Federal Security Council members to discuss the upcoming trilateral talks.
"It can be said with certainty that we will definitely not compromise on territories. But for everything else -- the size of the Ukrainian army, the security zone, security guarantees for Ukraine from the West, they can be discussed," said Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Russian experts expect little breakthrough from Russia-U.S.-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi
