Spy Balloon Chinese Posture
The Chinese government confirmed on 03 February 2023 that the balloon discovered by US authorities in US airspace was its property, although it clarified that it was "of a civilian nature" and used for "scientific research." A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "This balloon comes from China and is of a civilian nature and is used for scientific research such as meteorology. Due to the influence of the westerly wind and limited control capabilities, the balloon deviated from the intended course."
China also expressed regret that the balloon strayed into U.S. airspace. Chinese officials criticized the United States for exaggerating the incident. China stated regrets that the balloon strayed into the territory of the United States due to force majeure, and will continue to maintain communication with the United States to properly handle the accident.
China expressed strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US' move to shoot down a non-threatening Chinese airship for civilian use, calling the US' move an overreaction and vowing to reserve the right to take necessary actions. By turning an unintentional accident into an incident that has been hyped by the US officials and media, Washington is adding new uncertainties into the already-intense relations with China, creating a bad precedent for blurring the line between civilian and military uses, Chinese experts said.
"The US attack on Chinese civilian unmanned airship by force is an obvious overreaction," Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesperson at China's Ministry of National Defense, said.
Dennis Wilder, a former China analyst with the CIA and now a professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, said"when first approached, the foreign ministry had no idea of this balloon system being over the United States. So, they were taken completely by surprise. My analysis is that this, because it was a spy operation, and because it was probably handled by the People's Liberation Army, could well have been stovepipe. It could well be that it wasn't well coordinated within the Chinese system. Often when you have covert operations, and even here in the United States it's the same way. Often when there's a covert action or a covert operation that you're trying to keep secret, you don't inform everybody within the political system. So, there's a real question of how high up the chain of command in Beijing, this was approved. Who knew about it? Were they given a chance to comment on it? Or was this really very much an operation of the People's Liberation Army?...
"President Xi Jinping is on what I would call a charm offensive right now that started after zero-COVID was lifted, where he wants to tell the world that China is open for business again. He wants very much to see American investors come back. He wants to see American companies not thinking of moving their supply chains and diversifying them away from China to places like India, Vietnam, other Southeast Asian nations. And so, I think that the rapid speed of an apology from the Chinese yesterday is an indicator that he hoped to keep the visit of Secretary (of State Antony) Blinken on track. It is very unusual, in fact, I can't give you an example of a time when the Chinese have apologized to the United States for anything."
China, which reacted sharply to the recent US downing of a Chinese balloon, had one of its fighter jets shoot down what it claimed was a foreign spy balloon four years ago, according to Chinese media outlets. The outlets said the Chinese military plane downed the balloon with a missile after it entered Chinese airspace in September 2019. It was reportedly identified as a surveillance balloon from a foreign country. However, it's unclear from reports published at the time which country that was.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
