On the night of August 6, the Chinese Beijing Xinwei Technology Group Co., Ltd announced in an official message at the Shanghai Stock Exchange that the subsidiary of Beijing Skyrizon and the DCH Group of Ukrainian businessman Aleksandr Yaroslavskyi and its affiliated companies submitted a new joint application to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to buy shares the Zaporizhzhia engine building plant ‘Motor Sich’.
Leading Ukrainian experts call the investment intentions of Skyrizon and the DCH Group a unique opportunity for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to put an end to the geopolitical dispute between China and the United States over the fate of ‘Motor Sich’ and to bring the enterprise to the super-powerful world market of the aviation industry.
‘The participation of Mr Yaroslavskyi in the “Motor Sich” project and a Chinese company is a ready-made solution for the authorities how to get out of the current deadlock. China needs engines to develop its aviation, but Ukraine has faced opposition from the United States – they are traditionally worried about any technological gain or Chinese dominance. The Ukrainian manufacturer and tens of thousands of employees of the company itself and its subcontractors – suppliers and developers – became “hostages” of the game of two powers competing for leadership. Ukraine and representatives of its political elite have to understand that the country must derive its benefits from any projects, and not only listen to the voices from afar. To get hold of the Chinese market, where projects in the aviation industry are estimated at trillions of dollars, is the big-idea of any country with its own aircraft engine as there are not so many of them in the world. Ukraine now gets a unique chance to enter this capacious market for decades,’ says Vadim Karasev, Director of the Institute for Global Strategies.
According to Nikolai Spiridonov, an expert at the Ukrainian Institute for Analysis and Management of Politics, if you look at the situation without emotions, weighing and assessing the realities as much as possible, you can make an uncompromising conclusion. No one in the world except China needs ‘Motor Sich’. Russia has long ago established its full cycle of manufacturing of engines for aircraft construction The USA, which was a categorical opponent of the sale of ‘Motor Sich’ assets to Chinese investors, will never invest in the development of the Ukrainian plant, since the enterprise is a priori a competitor to American companies.
‘In this situation, Volodymyr Zelenskyi is the guarantor of the sovereignty, including economic, of Ukraine. Accordingly, he must make decisions based primarily on national interests. It is clear that Ukraine largely depends on the United States; however, the agreements between the Chinese partners and a mighty Ukrainian investor in the person of the DCH group of Aleksandr Yaroslavskyi open a real opportunity to resolve the “Motor Sich” issue with maximum benefit for our country. Yaroslavskyi has never been involved in schemes to withdraw assets from the state. Consequently, the Chinese agreed with Yaroslavskyi’s proposal to place technologies and develop manufacturing in Ukraine!
And most importantly, the Chinese will not be the full-fledged owners of ‘Motor Sich' assets, which the United States care about. It is a huge opportunity not to be missed. We are talking about billions of dollars in investments, mastering the most modern technologies, entering the most powerful world markets, creating hundreds, and maybe thousands of new jobs’ the expert wrote.
Let us recall that on August 6, 2020, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi instructed Denis Shmygal, Prime Minister, to urgently take exhaustive measures to protect the economic interests of the state together with the National Security and Defense Council apparatus and the Security Service of Ukraine. In particular, to ensure a comprehensive assessment of the state of activity of state property objects that are of strategic importance for the economy and security of the country, including the identification and elimination of factors blocking their work.
‘Ukraine is a state with a market economy. Accordingly, the state cannot interfere in the sale of blocks of shares to any investors or the purchase of these shares by anyone. And here, in fact, the question is in the manner of arbitration litigation. The decision should be made not by politicians but by impartial institutions that are intended for this all over the world,’ Shmyhal said.
