Boeing Board May Meet In China

The Boeing Co.’s board of directors plans a meeting in China next month, about the time Congress is expected to consider extending China’s mostfavored-nation trading status, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The debate could affect Boeing’s relationship with its biggest customer. The company contends it has lost out on previous airplane orders or had them delayed in part because China was upset with U.S. foreign-policy decisions.

“We are clearly a big target,” Boeing Chairman Frank Shrontz has said.

Boeing recently lost a sale in China to rival Airbus Industrie of Europe. And last week, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group President Ron Woodard said Boeing probably won’t be chosen as China’s partner to build an 80- to 100-seat regional airliner.

One observer said a gathering of Boeing’s 12 directors there would send the right signals to Chinese decision-makers.

“They will love it, because Boeing has set precedent for the world,” said Chin-Ning Chu of Asia Marketing Consultants in San Francisco.

A source within the company told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer the China meeting has been planned for about a year, but Boeing spokesman Paul Binder refused to confirm it.

“From time to time we do consider various locations, both within the U.S. and outside the U.S., to hold meetings of the board of directors,” Binder said Tuesday. “As a matter of policy, we do not disclose ahead of time the locations of upcoming board meetings.”