Chinese Balloon Part of Global Surveillance Program, US Alleges
The Facts
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that the alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down on Saturday was part of a "broader" Chinese surveillance program spanning five continents.
At a joint conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Blinken argued that the US had not been the only objective of China's purported global surveillance program and that Washington had shared its intelligence on the balloon with dozens of countries.
The Spin
Pro-China narrative
The fact that a meteorological research balloon is triggering such hype underscores that the anti-China caucus is calling the shots in Washington and trying desperately to keep the narrative of the Chinese threat thriving. That said, Washington's irrational behavior only highlights yet again that the US political system is inefficient and that its foreign policy toward China is primarily characterized by impulsive and confrontational thinking. The rest of the world has taken note.
Anti-China narrative
Beijing's claim that it was a weather balloon is no longer tenable in light of new findings. The incident is a teaching moment about Chinese ambitions and US vulnerability, and the Biden administration must not allow this flagrant disregard for US territorial integrity to pass without consequence. Washington shouldn't worry as much about a deterioration of US-China relations as it should about China's war hawks concluding that such provocations pose a manageable risk.
