Explosive economic growth in China and massive government investment in its transportation systems will generate thousands of airplane orders for Boeing, but also may expose the company to new competition and an overheated economy, Reuters reported.

These are risks that Boeing, the world's second-largest plane-maker, is willing to take as other nations and their struggling airlines recover from an economic downturn.

China has emerged in recent years as an economic pillar and Boeing's biggest export market. The nation saw its economy expand by nearly 12 percent in the first three months of 2010.

"A growing middle class in China is dramatically reshaping the country's domestic economy and having a major global economic impact as well," Boeing chief executive James McNerney said.

"China is indeed Boeing's largest export market," he said.

McNerney noted that China's aviation authority plans to add 97 new airports by 2020, bringing the total to 244.

Boeing forecasts Chinese demand over the next 20 years of about 3,800 airplanes, valued at US$400 billion, making it Boeing's largest potential commercial airplane customer.

Boeing said in September that it expects Asia Pacific - the region that includes China, Japan, Korea, Australia and India - to be the largest aviation market in the world over the next 20 years.

Boeing says that over the last decade, China has bought more commercial airplanes than any country in the world except the United States. Boeing says it sold China a little more than half of its current fleet of 1,560 planes.

But experts believe it is a matter of time before China develops commercial aircraft that compete with those made by Boeing and Airbus.

"I'm not concerned about the Chinese economy. I'm concerned about Chinese competition," said Alex Hamilton, an aerospace analyst with CK Cooper and Co. "You see the train coming. It's a viable threat that cannot be ignored," he said.

Chinese plane-makers, which have government backing, already are building smaller regional planes that could compete with those sold by Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier.

Aircraft manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China aims to conduct its first test flight of a domestically developed large commercial jetliner by 2014 and to begin deliveries in 2016.