WASHINGTON – The Biden administration shot down a Chinese spy balloon on Saturday, sparking diplomatic drama and raising questions about the next phase of an already strained relationship between the world’s two superpowers.
The ordeal caught the nation’s attention Thursday when U.S. military officials said they spotted a “high-altitude surveillance balloon” launched by China hovering in the Montana sky. The discovery prompted Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to cancel a planned trip to Beijing.
On Friday, said Chinese officials that the floating sphere was a “primarily meteorological” balloon that had floated into American airspace, with the cause being attributed to “acts of God”. A day later, when the balloon finally made its way across the Atlantic, it was downed by an F-22 fighter jet carrying an air-to-air missile.
The development comes months after President Biden and President Xi Jinping of China met in a high-stakes summit in Bali, Indonesia to declare that neither wanted the fierce competition between their two superpowers to erupt into conflict.
Here’s what we know about the balloon.
What happened and when?
NBC News reported Thursday afternoon that U.S. military officials had been monitoring what they had identified as a for several days Spy balloon made in China floating over Montana. Hours later, the Pentagon held a press conference.
China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement confirming the balloon’s origin but denying its purported purpose.
“It is a civil airship used for research purposes, mainly meteorological purposes.” a statement said on the ministry’s website. “Influenced by the westerly winds and with limited self-piloting ability, the airship has deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the accidental incursion of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure.”
Understand China-US relations better
The two nations compete for influence on the global stage, maneuvering for advantages on land, in business, and in cyberspace.
Mr. Biden was alerted by the Pentagon on Tuesday that the balloon was in airspace near Idaho. Pentagon officials advised against launching the balloon while it was over land due to the possibility of injuring civilians.
“I told them to shoot it,” President Biden told reporters Saturday afternoon in Hagerstown, Maryland, en route to Camp David. “They said to me, ‘Let’s wait until it’s the safest place for this.'”
Is that a big deal or not?
The balloon is big enough for the State Department to cancel Mr. Blinken’s planned trip — the first by a Biden cabinet secretary to Beijing — without postponing it. Canceling the trip, Mr Blinken said the balloon’s entry was a “clear violation of US sovereignty and international law”.
A senior defense official said surveillance balloons had strayed onto US territory a previous time during the Biden administration and three times during the Trump administration. A senior administration official said China has developed a balloon fleet to conduct surveillance operations and these balloons have been sighted over countries on five continents.
The spectacle, made for cable news, showed how high tensions are – and how much distrust remains – between Washington and Beijing.
“We have an important but troubled relationship that could deteriorate,” said Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. “The main purpose of the trip was to set some guidelines for the relationship. To me, this underscores the need for this more than ever.”
What is the debris recovery plan?
were navy divers work to find debris of the balloon on Sunday for the nation’s own intelligence purposes, Pentagon officials said. The rescue work is expected to take days.
Officials have downplayed how much information the balloon could gather. They say it could gather about as much information as a spy satellite.
According to Pentagon officials, the Biden administration intends to collect as much debris as possible. Pentagon officials don’t think the recovery effort will be too difficult because the balloon was shot down in shallow water just off the South Carolina coast.
How big is the balloon?
Officials wouldn’t say how big the balloon was, but the military sent several F-22 fighter jets into the Montana skies to get an estimate: it is “considerably”, so the defender.
On Thursday, ABC News reported that an official described the balloon as that Size of three buses.
What happens next?
Beijing was defensive and angry at the United States’ decision shoot down the balloon. China’s Foreign Ministry called the Biden government’s reaction to the balloon “excessive” and suggested Beijing could retaliate against the military action; The ministry noted that it “reserves the right to continue to respond”.
Mr Blinken has not postponed his trip to Beijing. After ordering the balloon to be launched, Mr. Biden also ignored shouted questions about what his message to China was on Saturday.
China, which deals with myriad domestic issues of its own, may not wish to prolong the dispute. Mr. Xi has sought to ease tensions with Western countries, concerned they are building support to curb China’s growth.
However, relations between the nations could be strained even more, not over a spy balloon but rather if Kevin McCarthy, the new House Speaker, visits Taiwan.
