Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
Construction work on a new airport for Beijing is unlikely to begin this year, says the country’s new transport minister. Transport Minister Yang Chuantang, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of China’s annual meeting of parliament, said a lot of preliminary work is needed for the airport at Daxing, in Beijing’s southern suburbs. Yang added that it would be hard to begin full-scale construction this year, suggesting the airport may not be ready until 2019.
In the seventh and eighth centuries, Urumqi was a stop on the Silk Road, the caravan trail along which trade flowed between China and Europe. In the 21st century, the city in China’s far Northwest may again become a key point in trans-Eurasian communications, for much the same reason as before: It is on the way.
BEIJING — Growth in Chinese defense spending appears to be moderating in line with the national economy, despite the 10.7% nominal rise that was announced this week and widely reported in international news reports as underlining Beijing’s expanding military capabilities.
