In a country where most big corporate decisions are hammered out through weeks of closed-door compromises between dark-suited officials, Tuesday’s vote by shareholders of China Eastern Airlines will provide a rare moment of semi-public drama.

Investors in the Shanghai-based airline will have a choice between voting for Singapore Airlines’ HK$7.16bn ($917m) offer for a 24 per cent stake in the carrier, or holding out for a potentially larger – but yet to be tabled – bid from rival Air China. The extraordinary general meeting, to be held in a Shanghai hotel but closed to the media, will bring to a head a public dispute that has demonstrated the increasingly assertive corporate tactics that some of China’s once-stolid state-owned companies are willing to use. It will also have a huge influence over the future direction of the Chinese airline sector.