President Joe Biden, 80, succumbed to mounting criticism that he allowed a Chinese spy balloon to collect data over sensitive military sites for the last three days, finally shooting down the thousand-pound, three-busload object over U.S. territorial waters off the North Carolina coast. As the unidentified Chinese balloon drifted from the Aleutian Islands into Canada, then down into Montana, the Chinese government claimed it was an elaborate weather balloon, drifting off course because of prevailing trade winds. Pentagon officials, led by 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, confirmed that the balloon was an intel-gathering mechanism of unknown origin, collecting data, presumably sending it to some control-and-command center in Beijing. President Joe Biden said he was informed about the Chinese spy balloon on Wednesday, Feb. 1, ordering it shot down at the earliest possible time.
Pentagon officials said they were concerned about shooting down the mammoth-sized balloon, fearing the debris field could strike unexpected civilians. Drifting over unpopulated areas of the country, it’s doubtful that any of the balloon’s debris would have had any impact over unpopulated areas on the Midwest. At the same time, Biden claims he was first informed about Feb. 1, when, in fact, NORAD [North American Aerospace Defense Command] was monitoring its movement over Canada in the days before it drifted into U.S. airspace. “They successfully shot it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” Biden told reporters, saying a recovery operation was underway by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. Video of the incident showed an orb-like structure, two-bus lengths in diameter punctured, deflated and plummeting to the Atlantic Ocean off the North Carolina coast.
Pentagon officials hope to analyzie the debris to determine the Chinese technology used to send data back to a command-and-control center in Beijing. “The balloon, which was being used by the [Peoples Republic of China] in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above U.S. territorial waters,” Austin said.. Austin also said the goals was “to take down the balloon safely over our territorial waters, while closely monitoring its path and intelligence collection activities.” Waiting days to take down the alleged spy craft could have transmitted classified intel to Communist China about U.S. nuclear capabilities over strategic U.S. air bases. Biden said he was informed about the Chinese spy craft Feb. 1, but it might have been two days before when NORAD picked up the unidentified flying object over Canada.
No one knows how much classified data was transmitted back to Beijing or whether the debris will show the memory capability to record classified intel from various sites in the U.S. Letting the spy balloon drift to the East Coast before shooting it down could have wasted valuable time to take down the balloon. China’s Foreign Ministry said the balloon was weather-tracking device that went astray because of the Jet Stream or prevailing trade winds. U.S. officials said it had been tracking the spy balloon for days, something confirmed by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said officials had watched the balloon for days with multiple methods, including piloted aircraft. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 60, said he postponed his high-level meeting with Chinese officials out of protest for the spy incident.
Blinken said he was due to talk about many key issues between the U.S. and China, including Taiwan, Ukraine War, encroachment in the South China Sea, human rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs in Western China, trade tariffs, other bilateral issues and overall U.S.-Chinese relations. After shooting down the spy balloon, Chinese President Xi Jinping won’t take it lightly. Chinese officials wanted the U.S. to accept its apology without taking precipitous action. Shooting down the balloon today could have adverse consequences on U.S.-Chinese relations. China won’t take the shoot down lightly because of already strained U.S.-Chinese relations. Whether that translates into more intimidation of Taiwan is anyone’s guess. China has been making threatening gesture to Taiwan since former 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei Aug. 4, 2022 against Beijing’s objections.
Biden was under the gun to do something about the latest Chinese insult to U.S. foreign policy. If he didn’t take decisive action, Biden would have been subject of withering criticism for allowing Beijing to spy on the U.S. As it stands now, the Chinese spy ship passed over several strategic U.S. airbases, home to the U.S. nuclear arsenals. Blinkn told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Li that the Chinese spy balloon was “an irresponsible act and a clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law that undermined the purpose of the trip.” Pentagon officials refuted China’s explanation that the unidentified orb was a weather monitoring object, not a spy craft. Flying over Mamstrom Air Force Basel, home to U.S. nuclear silos, was no accident. Defense officials think that the Chinese spy craft collected classified data on U.S. nuclear capability, something China could neutralize in any conflict.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
