This is the WeChat public account article Shilao and crew quoted in their latest podcast. It's written by Zhang Junen, a senior aviation engineer. Here's the author's very frank assessment on Russia as a collaborator
"积我和我的不少前辈的经验，从苏联到俄罗斯，他们始终不是一个合格的国际合作者。在与他们的交往中，他们常常表现出不加掩饰的利己主义，严重缺乏契约精神，骨子里的大国沙文主义和对我们的轻慢与不屑，都影响着合作推进与善始善终。回顾历史，环顾当下，中俄之间富有成效的科技与工业合作，成功案例并不多见，我们应该对此有清醒认识。"
edited DeepL translation:
"In my experience and that of my predecessors, from the Soviet Union to Russia, they have never been an adequate international collaborator. In our dealings with them, they often showed undisguised selfishness, a serious lack of respect for contracts, ingrained great power chauvinism, and deep-seated contempt and disdain for us, all of which affected the advancement and successful conclusion of the collaboration. Looking back at history and at the present, there are not many successful cases of fruitful technological and industrial cooperation between Russia and China, and we should be clear-headed about it."
Mr Zhang thinks the recent Airbus order is also sending Russia a message that China has zero intention to sever ties with Western commercial aviation industry. Mr Zhang also makes it clear that the a commercial aviation project can only be truly successful if it's commercially successful, and Russia wants to take the project to a direction that's not conducive to commercial success. You can tell Mr. Zhang just can't wait for Russia to withdraw from CR-929.
