Fallout from the Feb. 4 shoot-down of a Chinese spy craft over Myrtle Beach, South Carolina generated an angry response of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. Vice Chinese Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Amb. in Beijing, accusing the U.S. of “indiscriminate aggression.” Puncturing China’s orb-like spy balloon prompted strong objections from the Peoples Republic of China. “However, the United States turned a deaf ear and insisted on indiscriminate use of force against the civilian airship that was about to leave the United State airspace, obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice,” Xie said, turning the balloon incident inside out. China violated U.S. sovereignty sending a spy balloon to travel from Idaho, Montana across the U.S. to the Atlantic Carolina Coast.
China has way of accusing other countries of violating its sovereignty, just like it did when it decided over the last 10 years to build military installations on sandbars in against international law in the South China Sea. Yet when China sends a spycraft, insisting it was a harmless weather balloon into U.S. air space it’s no big deal, insisting the U.S. used “indiscriminate force.” President Joe Biden, 80, waited six days, letting the spy balloon collect whatever data it picked up flying at 60,000 feet over U.S. nuclear air bases from Montana over the east coast. Whatever Feng thinks the U.S. did to China shooting down its spy balloon, elected officials think China did far worse. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 60, cancelled his scheduled trip to Beijing to try to mend fences on a number of disputed issues. Blinken’s trip could take months, if ever, to start to improve U.S.-Chinese relations.
Xie claims the Chinese weather balloon threatened no one, only veered off course into U.S. air space when the Jet Stream with its prevailing trade winds sent the balloon off course into U.S. sovereign territory. “An accidental incident caused by force majeure or an act of nature. No one at the Pentagon buys Xie’s explanation that the balloon was collecting innocent atmospheric data. All military analysts believe, as in the past, the Chinese balloon tried to collect data not available to China’s space-based spy satellite network. “What the U.S. has done has seriously impacted and damaged both sides’ efforts and progress in stabilizing Sino-U.S. relations since the Bali meeting,” Xie said, referring to attempts at the sidelines of the G20 meeting by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to improve bilateral relations. U.S.-Chinese relations have deteriorated to near all-time lows.
When 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan Aug. 4, 2022 over Beijing’s objections, China said the act nearly severed U.S.-China diplomatic ties. Pelosi told China that Beijing does not set her travel itinerary to a friendly ally. Beijing objects in the strongest possible terms to the U.S. maintaining any informal ties to the Republic of China, a democratic outpost of former Chinese nationalists led by Gen. Chaing Kai-Shek to the Island of Formosa in 1949 the Maoist Revolution. Ever since then, Beijing knows that the U.S. defended Taiwan’s right to freedom from Mainland China. Only recently has Beijing made an issue of Communist dominion over the independent nation-state. Taiwan officials defend their right to freedom from Beiijing in the strongest possible terms. Beijing objects strongly to the U.S. supplying Taiwan with offensive and defensive weapons.
So, when Xie talks about the U.S. indiscriminate aggression against a peaceful weather balloon, it pales in comparison to Beijing’s objections over U.S. military support of Taipei. Biden infuriated Chinese President Xi Jinping Sept. 23, 2022 telling the press he would defend Taiwan with U.S. troops, in effect, violating the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. When it comes to the balloon, it only has symbolic value to the Chinese with everything else going on in U.S.-Chinese relations. Beijing doesn’t like being lectured by the sanctimonious Biden White House about human rights abuses. Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Li told 60-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken to stop lecturing Beijing about Muslim Uyghurs when the U.S. government once enslaved and now discriminates against African Americans. If Blinken gets to meet with Wang Li again, he’d better park the vitriol at the door.
Getting U.S.-Chinese relations back on track won’t be easy for the Biden White House that fights a proxy war in Ukraine with the Kremlin and threatens war with China over Taiwan. Shooting down an inconsequential balloon displays American machismo but doesn’t change the litany of disagreement with Communist China. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mao Ning said the U.S. grossly overreacted to a harmless weather balloon. “We have stated that this is completely an isolated and accidental incident cause by force majeure, but the U.S. still hyped up the incident on purpose and even used force to attack,” Mao said. “This is an unacceptable and irresponsible action,” putting the blame on the White House. Mao said she’d like to see the U.S. stop in surveillance flights and patrol warships in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
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.
