Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
“The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions…
“The presence of the balloon in the skies above the U.S. this week dealt a severe blow to already strained U.S.-Chinese relations that have been in a downward spiral for years. It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing tensions.” AP News
The right is alarmed by the balloon and criticizes the administration for not shooting it down earlier.
“The big question is why it took this long to take the obvious step, and what the shootdown now gained. Presumably, China gets real-time data from these crafts; retrieving them would save them money, but unless Beijing is staffed by total idiots, their missions are not reliant on retrieval. Biden essentially waited until the potential for intelligence acquisition had been completed…
“The White House has claimed that they didn’t want to risk falling debris over populated areas, but the China balloon had violated US airspace beginning at the Aleutian Islands. Biden had plenty of time to order the strike.”
Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
“We shot this Chinese surveillance balloon down on the wrong coast. It should have met its end in the Pacific before it even crossed American shores…
“For example, the balloon flew over Missouri, home of the nuclear B-2 stealth bombers at Whiteman Air Force Base. China [got] to see how U.S. military commanders reacted. That’s got to yield a lot of interesting tactical and operational data…
“It took Biden and national command authorities days to come to grips with one brazen balloon making a slow coast-to-coast sweep. Based on this delayed reaction, China may conclude — right or wrong— that they have at least a few days to mess with Taiwan before Biden can execute a military decision.”
Rebecca Grant, Fox News
“On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken finally announced he was delaying a trip to China. A State Department official explained that the United States had ‘noted the [People's Republic of China's] statement of regret, but the presence of this balloon in our airspace is a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law.’ Why equivocate? Why bother with China's insincere regret? Why hasn't U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns been recalled from Beijing for consultations? That would be an appropriate response to this outrage…
“This is a self-inflicted blunder. Through weakness, the Biden administration has undermined significant recent foreign policy successes it had achieved against China. These included a deal with Japan and the Netherlands to restrict high-tech chip exports to China, a deal with the Philippines to provide the U.S. military with access to bases needed in any war with China over Taiwan, and big boosts to Japan's defense spending and posture.”
Editorial Board, Washington Examiner
Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) writes, “FBI Director Chris Wray testified before Congress last year that the bureau was opening counterintelligence investigations into China every 12 hours… The CCP is spreading its espionage efforts throughout our agriculture industry, education systems, TikTok, Wall Street, and much more…
“This brazen act by the CCP should be a catalyst - much like the Sputnik launch - for all Americans to accept the sobering reality that the Communist government in China is in a new cold war with the United States.”
Michael Waltz, Fox News
The left urges the administration to continue diplomatic engagement with China aimed at reducing tensions.
The left urges the administration to continue diplomatic engagement with China aimed at reducing tensions.
“Pentagon officials believe that the strange week-long balloon voyage was ultimately of more benefit to the United States than to China. By waiting until the balloon was over U.S. territorial waters, the Biden administration was able to maximize the likelihood that the pod could be recovered while minimizing the risk that Americans would be injured by falling debris… [But] Intelligence officials don’t know what might have prompted the Chinese to launch such a mission now.”
David Ignatius, Washington Post
Many argue, “It’s unlikely that China’s leaders deliberately torpedoed Blinken’s visit. Indeed, there are signs that Xi, under economic and pandemic pressure, wants to reduce tensions. The deployment of a spy balloon at such a delicate juncture was most probably a blunder by lower-ranking cadres – or sabotage by hardliners opposed to detente. Such possibilities revive nagging questions about Xi’s authority and competence…
“Unforeseen crises of this sort vividly demonstrate why resumed talks to foster improved mutual understanding are essential… The decision by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, to postpone an ice-breaking weekend visit to Beijing is regrettable.”
Editorial Board, The Guardian
“The United States and China have a history of recovering from relation-disrupting incidents that initially outraged the other… [On May 7, 1999] a U.S.-led NATO air campaign bombed China’s embassy in Belgrade, killing three Chinese journalists and wounding 20 other Chinese citizens. Though the United States insisted the bombing was a mistake, to this day it is a source of sore feelings in China, where one state media account in 2021 called it ‘barbaric.’ Still, the incident hasn’t prevented efforts to improve relations…
“In 2001, a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea and landed in China’s Hainan island. China detained the U.S. plane’s 24-member crew for 11 days, during which the fighter jet pilot was said to have died. After several days of tense negotiations, the two countries brokered a deal hinged on a U.S. expression of regret for the incident. Even years of rising tensions over Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island that Beijing claims as its own, have not severed ties… [This] incident will likely only further bruise, rather than break, the bilateral relationship.”
Nahal Toosi and Phelim Kine, Politico
“The polarized US domestic climate is also complicating this. Biden, like his predecessor Donald Trump, has maintained pretty hawkish policies on China, including keeping Trump tariffs in place; curbing the sale of semiconductor technology and getting allies and partners to do the same; and continuing to strongly back Taiwan. Still, Republicans, in particular, have accused the Biden administration of being insufficiently tough on China… There are legitimate security concerns about China’s surveillance tactics… but honestly, the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t need a balloon for that, just maybe your cellphone.”
Jen Kirby, Vox
