It isn't well known outside aviation circles that the first engineer at U.S. aircraft maker Boeing almost a century ago was a man from China, Wong Tsu – and his story is one that doesn’t sound possible in the current era of distrust between the two nations.

A U.S. politician highlighted the historic Sino-U.S. links in aviation in a toast to Chinese President Xi Jinping during the first leg of his American tour, where Boeing is high on the agenda and tension over technology is a primary issue. In his remarks on Tuesday night,...