Topline
The suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down Saturday afternoon by U.S. fighter jets over Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is part of a worldwide Chinese program to spy on military bases around the world, according to U.S. officials who spoke to the New York Times.
U.S. Navy officials recovered the suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina last … [+]
Key Facts
Although Chinese officials’ claimed the balloon—which was first spotted over Billings, Montana, last week—was a civilian weather project that drifted astray in westerly winds, U.S. officials, speaking on background, told the Times it was actually part of a Chinese surveillance program used to evade detection by radar.
Officials say the massive balloon can drift in more irregular patterns determined by the wind, as opposed to a satellite, and can evade radar detection even though it hovered much closer to the earth, at an altitude of about 60,000 feet.
They could also provide clearer imagery than satellites and pick up signals from the ground that satellites are too far to receive, according to officials, who were not named.
The balloon spotted last week, however, was only the latest one spotted by U.S. officials, the Washington Post reported, following a string of others that had collected surveillance information from more than 12 other countries over five continents.
Big Number
Three. That’s how many suspected Chinese surveillance balloons went undetected during the Trump Administration, according to Pentagon officials, although former President Donald Trump denied it, telling Fox News Digital it “would never have happened” because Beijing “respected us greatly” during his presidency. Rather than being labeled as foreign surveillance balloons, however, they were classified as unidentified aerial phenomena, the new classification for UFOs. Last weekend, another balloon was spotted over Costa Rica, before floating southeast over Colombia and Venezuela.
Key Background
U.S. Coast Guard and Navy boats recovered the balloon after it dropped to the ocean off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, revealing the first up-close images of the deflated balloon that had been roughly the size of three buses—and opening an investigation into the contents of the balloon that renewed ongoing tensions between Washington D.C. and Beijing. President Joe Biden, after numerous calls to shoot down the balloon as it floated southeast from Montana, had given the green light for U.S. fighter jets to shoot it down after it crossed over the Carolina coast, following advice from advisors that shooting it down over land could be dangerous for people on the ground.
What We Don’t Know
Why China would launch a surveillance balloon program. Gordon Chang, a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, told Forbes this week the balloon is undeniably used for spying, reiterating a claim made by officials at the Pentagon, and adding it could be a “trial” for China to see how U.S. officials would react to having a foreign spy balloon overhead—officials have condemned it as a violation of airspace. He also told Forbes it could be an indication that Chinese President Xi Jinping—who has built up the country’s military capabilities in recent years—could be preparing for war, which he said would most likely come in the form of an invasion of Taiwan, where China last year conducted military drills including missile strikes.
Further Reading
U.S. Shoots Down Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Over Atlantic (Forbes)
Pentagon Admits It Failed To Spot 3 Chinese Spy Balloons During Trump’s Term (Forbes)
China Says Alleged Spy Balloon Hovering Over U.S. Is Actually A ‘Civilian Airship’ Blown Off Course (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/02/08/spy-balloon-part-of-worldwide-chinese-surveillance-program-meant-to-evade-radar-report-says/