Topline
The Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down by the U.S. military earlier this month was initially meant to fly over Guam and Hawaii, Reuters reported on Wednesday as Chinese officials criticized U.S. lawmakers accusing them of exaggerating the issue in an effort to “contain China.”
In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 … [+]
Key Facts
Citing an unnamed U.S. official, Reuters reported that the balloon was carried off course “by prevailing winds” causing it to drift across Alaska and the U.S. mainland before being shot down near the coast of South Carolina.
Both Guam and Hawaii are home to key U.S. military installations and the New York Times reports that the targets of China’s balloon program appear to be military bases in the Pacific.
The U.S. Senate joined the House on Wednesday in unanimously passing a resolution condemning the “invasion” of U.S. airspace by China.
On Thursday, the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s National People’s Congress slammed the resolution in a statement saying it “deliberately exaggerated the ‘China threat.’”
Calling the resolution “malicious hype and political manipulation” the statement accused some U.S. lawmakers of taking advantage of the issue for “their sinister intention of opposing China and trying to contain China.”
The Foreign Affairs Committee instead accused the U.S. of “wantonly” conducting surveillance, violating the sovereignty and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
What To Watch For
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has begun his week-long trip to Europe as tensions continue to rise between Washington and Beijing. Wang met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday in the first leg of a tour which will also include visits to Italy, Hungary, Russia and Germany. Wang is expected to speak at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, where Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also be in attendance. According to Voice of America, Blinken and his team are preparing for a possible meeting with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the conference.
Tangent
To help make the identification of spy balloons and other flying objects easier, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) suggested that Congress should look to mandate the use of transponders on high-altitude balloons used for research and weather tracking purposes. Kelly, a former astronaut and Navy pilot, argues that this would allow the U.S. military and air traffic controllers to easily identify balloons that are not a threat. Transponders onboard airplanes are used to communicate the identity and location of the aircraft to air traffic controllers.
Key Background
The Chinese balloon entered U.S. airspace over Alaska late last month and then flew over Canada and the U.S. mainland over the period of a week before it was shot down near the coast of South Carolina by a U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jet. Beijing has rejected the classification of the balloon as a surveillance balloon saying it was simply a civilian weather balloon that had been blown off course by strong winds. In the past week, the U.S. military has also shot down three other unidentified objects detected over U.S. and Canadian airspace. The identity of these objects remains unclear with the White House suggesting they may have been designed for “some commercial or benign purpose.”
Further Reading
‘No Indication’ Three Recent Flying Objects Shot Down Were Chinese Spy Balloons, White House Says (Forbes)
Chinese Spy Balloon ‘Graphic Reminder’ Of Geopolitical Market Risks—Here’s What It Means For Stocks (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/02/16/hawaii-and-guam-were-the-original-targets-of-shot-down-chinese-spy-balloon-report-says/