China inks big deals with Boeing, Cisco Systems Boeing also signed an agreement with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. to build an aircraft completion center in China for Boeing 737s.

Show Caption Hide Caption China, Boeing ink two deals during Xi visit Boeing has sealed two big deals as Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the airplane makers main factory in Washington.

SEATTLE — On Chinese President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the USA, he brought gifts — big business ones — to help foster relations between the two countries.

Wednesday, Boeing said China will buy 300 Boeing aircraft for $38 billion and build the first aircraft completion plant in that country. Earlier, Inspur, a Chinese cloud computing and data-center company, said it will team with Cisco Systems to sell networking technologies and products in China.

The massive Boeing order includes 190 of the 737 model aircraft and 50 wide-body planes for Chinese airlines and 60 single-aisle planes for leasing companies. China Aviation Supplies, ICBC Financial Leasing and China Development Bank Leasing with Boeing will purchase the planes.

Hours after the Boeing deal was announced, Xi toured the company's Everett, Wash., plant where the Dreamliner 787 is built. Long-haul flights for the 787 and 777-300ER are expanding at a double-digit rate for China, which has opened 30 routes of at least 3,500 miles since 2013, according to Boeing.

We're honored to host Chinese President Xi on a tour of the #Boeing Everett factory and sharing a few words. pic.twitter.com/AHSVfvRI9Z — Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) September 23, 2015

Boeing has projected it could sell China 6,330 planes worth $950 billion during the next 20 years. Nearly three-quarters of the planes will be single-aisle with about 700 wide bodies. Passenger traffic is projected to grow 6.6% per year during that time and air cargo 7%.

“China is obviously a critically important region for Boeing,” said Henry Harteveldt, co-founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel and airline research company based in San Francisco.

China decides which companies to buy planes based on objective factors, such as cost and operating performance, but it also considers politics.

The market is "hotly contested" between the world’s two largest airplane manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, the European airplane consortium, Harteveldt said.

Typically, China tries to balance its orders between the companies, said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst on commercial and military aircraft issues for the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va.

“The government likes it for diplomatic reasons," Aboulafia said. "The airlines like it to keep (the manufacturers) competitive."

Airbus has had a final assembly plant in Tianjin, China, since 2008. It was expanded in 2014.

Boeing signed an agreement with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China to build an aircraft completion center in China for Boeing 737s. Single-aisle planes are important for domestic and regional flights as more low-cost carriers enter the market, according to Boeing.

This will be Boeing's first non-U.S. plant. It will be responsible for completion and handover work for customers.