China, where Rolls-Royce has had a presence for more than 40 years, is a significant market for the company's aviation, marine and energy products, and a manufacturing partner of growing importance. Currently Rolls-Royce has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian and Hong Kong.

The Rolls-Royce commitment to the market in China can best be illustrated by a number of joint ventures and collaborative relationships, including two joint ventures - Hong Kong Aero Engine Services Limited (HAESL) in Hong Kong, and Xian Rolls-Royce Aerocomponents (XRA) in Xian. The latter is a high-tech joint venture with the Xian Aero Engine Company. Recently the company opened a new marine facility in Shanghai.

Over the next 20 years, China will be the most significant region for the aviation industry. With annual traffic growth expected to average around eight per cent, the country is likely to lead the rest of the world in volumes of aircraft and engine purchases. The demand for nearly 3,000 aircraft from China is expected to drive a total market for 6,500 engines, valued at $65 billion, through to 2026.

In 2006, Rolls-Royce won orders from Air China and China Southern as airlines planned their future requirements. This included an order for the Trent 1000 to power 15 Boeing 787s ordered by Air China. The Trent 700 has maintained its 100 per cent market share on the Airbus A330 in China, following Hainan Airlines' selection of this engine. Hainan Airlines is a new customer for the Trent family in China. Rolls-Royce powered aircraft are currently operating with ten Chinese airlines, including Hong Kong and Macao SARs.

Rolls-Royce also leads the field in developing top-quality technical and managerial training programmes with a range of Chinese organisations including the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Aviation Industries of China (AVIC I and II) and a number of central government ministries. This year is the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Rolls-Royce working with the CAAC on the Senior Executives 'Top 300' development programme. A 10-year extension of this programme was signed in 2006.

A symbol of this strong relationship with training is a joint facility in Tianjin operated by Rolls-Royce and the CAAC, which opened in 1997, for the training of technicians, engineers and managers.

In addition, a number of research programmes with Chinese universities and research institutes are aimed at aero engine technology, including the Joint Engineering Team (JET) programme AVIC I/II.