SINGAPORE/ZHUHAI, China, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The trade

portion of China's largest air show in Zhuhai wrapped up on a

rainy Thursday, with the secretary of Russia's Security Council

visiting days after the Russian-made Su-57 stealth jet flew in

its first appearance away from home.

Military gear was on display in the exhibition hall where it

was viewed by Sergei Shoigu, reported state media outlet the

Global Times. The former defence minister is in the country for

annual strategic security consultations.

China demonstrated its pull on the world stage by welcoming

a delegation from Saudi Arabia with its first pavilion at the

event, as well as its close ties with Russia even as that

country is isolated from Western nations and their allies due to

its invasion of Ukraine.

The air show's commercial aviation side was much smaller

than in previous years, putting military technology in the

spotlight. Hardware as varied as air-defence systems, radars,

missiles and aircraft packed the grounds indoors and out.

The show included the public debut of China's J-35A stealth

fighter while a two-seat mockup of its J-20 stealth fighter,

advanced helicopters, stealthy drones and missile defence

systems also caught the spotlight.

"Clearly these developments suggest a continued broad

modernisation of PLA capabilities to defeat U.S. and allied

intervention capability as part of a counter-intervention

strategy," said senior analyst Malcolm Davis at the Australian

Strategic Policy Institute, referring to the People's Liberation

Army. "They all come together to make Chinese A2AD more lethal

and extend its reach."

A2AD is shorthand for Anti-Access/Area Denial, a military

strategy to avoid a head-on fight by making it difficult for the

enemy to even enter the battlefield.

China is the world's fourth-largest global arms exporter,

showed data released in March by the Stockholm International

Peace Research Institute, but its sales have been decreasing

over the last decade amid changing geopolitical dynamics.

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On the civilian side of the show, state planemaker COMAC

announced Air China as the first customer

for its C929 widebody jet. It also re-branded its regional jet,

previously the ARJ21, as the C909 for better branding

uniformity.

COMAC did not disclose the number of C929s that flag carrier

Air China would purchase or planned delivery dates. It did say

Hainan Airlines had placed a firm order for 60 C919

narrowbody jets and 40 C909s.

Colorful Guizhou Airlines has also signed a purchase

agreement for 30 C909 planes, 20 of which were firm and the

remainder provisional, it said.

State-controlled aerospace company AVIC unveiled

a model of one the more unusual offerings: a spaceplane to carry

cargo to China's space station.

Among foreign participants, Airbus at the show said

Chinese certification of its A330neo jet was going smoothly and

that the first delivery of the widebody model in the country

could come in 2025.

The planemaker's China CEO George Xu said Airbus was "very

much pro-free trade" when asked by reporters about any market

impact of a dispute between the European Union and China over

electric vehicles and the prospect of a transatlantic spat after

Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election with a pledge to

impose widespread tariffs.

Brazil's Embraer ( ERJ ) said it saw a role for China in

its business as it worked to strengthen its supply chain.

Embraer ( ERJ ) is the world's third-largest planemaker and focuses

on up to 150-seat single-aisle regional and executive aircraft,

slightly smaller than Airbus' and Boeing's ( BA ) best-selling

A320 and 737 families and rivalling the Airbus A220.

At Zhuhai, its chief commercial officer, Martyn Holmes,

noted that China's President Xi Jinping would visit Brazil for

the G20 summit that will be held in that country this month.

"I think it's an exciting moment for us to be having that

(supply chain) conversation with Chinese suppliers and looking

how we evolve," Holmes said.

China is Brazil's biggest trade partner. Brazilian President

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva earlier this year said he wanted to

discuss a "long-term strategic partnership" with China.