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===U.S.–China tensions===
===U.S.–China tensions===
{{Further|China–United States relations}}
{{Further|China–United States relations}}
The 2023 balloon incident occured while U.S.–China relations were at their lowest point in decades,<ref name="nytimes/2023/02/09/china-balloon-program" /> amid increasing [[strategic competition]] between the two superpowers in critical economic and military sectors, including [[spaceflight]], [[semiconductors]], [[artificial intelligence]], [[life sciences]], [[5G|5G telecommunications]], and [[quantum computing]].<ref name="CompIntensifies">{{Cite news |last=Sanger |first=David E. |date=February 5, 2023 |title=Balloon Incident Reveals More Than Spying as Competition With China Intensifies |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/us/politics/balloon-china-spying-united-states.html |url-access=limited |access-date=February 10, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210105143/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/us/politics/balloon-china-spying-united-states.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The balloon incident followed previous Chinese government actions targeting the U.S., including the [[Chinese espionage in the United States|Chinese theft of the designs]] for the [[F-35]] about fifteen years earlier and successful Chinese government-sponsored [[Office of Personnel Management data breach|cyberattacks targeting the Office of Personnel Management]] security clearance files (2015), the [[Anthem medical data breach|healthcare company Anthem]] (2015), and the [[Marriott International]] system (2018).<ref name="CompIntensifies" />
The 2023 balloon incident occured while U.S.–China relations were at their lowest point in decades,<ref name="nytimes/2023/02/09/china-balloon-program" /> amid increasing [[strategic competition]] between the two superpowers in critical economic and military sectors, including [[spaceflight]], [[semiconductors]], [[artificial intelligence]], [[life sciences]], [[5G|5G telecommunications]], and [[quantum computing]].<ref name="CompIntensifies">{{Cite news |last=Sanger |first=David E. |date=February 5, 2023 |title=Balloon Incident Reveals More Than Spying as Competition With China Intensifies |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/us/politics/balloon-china-spying-united-states.html |url-access=limited |access-date=February 10, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210105143/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/us/politics/balloon-china-spying-united-states.html |url-status=live }}</ref>


=== Technology used by China ===
=== Technology used by China ===

Revision as of 04:55, 15 February 2023

"China balloon" redirects here. For other uses, see Chinese balloon.

2023 Chinese balloon incident
Part of China–United States
and Canada–China relations
The balloon photographed from Billings, Montana, on February 1[1][2][3]
DateJanuary 28 – February 4, 2023 (2023-01-28 – 2023-02-04)
LocationAirspace over the United States, Canada, and territorial waters
TypeAirspace violation; diplomatic incident
CauseHigh-altitude Chinese balloons entering foreign airspace
MotiveUnited States and Canada allege reconnaissance; China claims meteorology and force majeure due to westerlies
ParticipantsU.S. and Canada:
Other:
OutcomeBalloon downed by an AIM-9 Sidewinder fired by a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor; debris recovered[4]

From January 28 to February 4, 2023, a Chinese-operated high-altitude balloon was seen in North American airspace, including Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguous United States.[5] On February 4, the U.S. Air Force shot down the balloon over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina, on the order of U.S. President Joe Biden.[6][7][8] Debris from the wreckage was recovered and sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.[4]

The American and Canadian militaries believe that the balloon was for surveillance, while the Chinese government said it was a civilian meteorological research airship that had blown off course.[9] Analysts said that the balloon's flight path and structural characteristics made it dissimilar from those which have typically been used for meteorological research.[10][11][12]

The U.S. government declassified information from American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft deployed to track the balloon which says it had signals intelligence equipment.[13] The U.S. said that the balloon was capable of geolocating electronic communications devices, including mobile phones and radios, and that it carried antennas and other equipment "clearly for intelligence surveillance" and was inconsistent with weather-balloon equipment.[14] The U.S. Department of State said that the balloon was part of a global Chinese military-directed surveillance effort in which Chinese spy balloons have flown over more than 40 nations in five continents.[13][14]

The incident increased U.S.–China tensions and prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to delay a diplomatic visit to Beijing, which was set to be his first since 2018.[15][16][17] It also further strained Canada–China relations, as Canada summoned the Chinese ambassador over the violation of Canadian airspace.[18] On February 3, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that a second Chinese balloon was passing over Latin America, and China confirmed ownership of this balloon.[19][20][21] The news was followed by subsequent detections and shootdowns of high-altitude objects over Northern Alaska (February 10),[22] Yukon (February 11),[23] and Lake Huron (February 11–12).[24]

Background

History of spy balloons

Further information: History of military ballooning

The use of balloons as military technology dates to the late 18th century and peaked during World War I. The United States and the Soviet Union continued to use them for reconnaissance during the Cold War.[25] Despite being mostly made obsolete by surveillance satellites and drones, balloons have retained some advantages, such as a lower cost of production and deployment.[25][26]

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Defense began investing in the military use of balloons under its classified COLD STAR (Covert Long Dwell Stratospheric Architecture) program.[27][28][29] The Pentagon was reportedly incorporating high-altitude balloons into the military kill chain with a focus on hypersonic weapons, complementing Space Development Agency commercial satellite megaconstellations. Balloons could be preferred as a platform for their low cost, lower altitude, and less predictable trajectories compared with satellites.[27]

In 2022, World View Enterprises was in talks with the U.S. Army Pacific Command about using balloons to "operationalize the stratosphere" and develop persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Their modern balloons are large, having a volume the size of a college football stadium. Made of a polyethylene plastic, they do not create a heat signature and are hard to detect with radar, electro-optical, or infrared sensors. The balloons can loiter within a 40 kilometer area for four days to provide streaming video at 5 cm resolution for persistent monitoring of the movement of people, goods and vehicles.[30]

U.S.–China tensions

Further information: China–United States relations

The 2023 balloon incident occured while U.S.–China relations were at their lowest point in decades,[14] amid increasing strategic competition between the two superpowers in critical economic and military sectors, including spaceflight, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, life sciences, 5G telecommunications, and quantum computing.[31]

Technology used by China

Based on information taken from a People's Liberation Army procurement portal, the balloon is believed to be manufactured by a civilian Chinese military contractor.[32] An analysis by Reuters of an article in a Chinese state-run defense technology journal published in April 2022 showed increased interest in military balloon technology, suggesting China should "induce and mobilise the enemy's air defence system, providing the conditions for the implementation of electronic reconnaissance [and] assessment of air defence systems' early warning detection and operational response capabilities".[33] Following the downing of the balloon, official Chinese media published an article by a Beihang University Professor and retired senior People's Liberation Army Air Force colonel claiming the incursion fulfilled a strategy proposal in his 2014 paper titled "Innovating Air Defense Systems: Long Stays in the Air and Instant Strikes", in which he claimed airships are the "best choice for China to build its domestic air defense system".[34]

Previous suspected Chinese spy balloons

On February 9, 2023, the U.S. Department of State declassified balloon intelligence, saying that the balloon, shot down over the Atlantic Ocean, was part of a fleet of Chinese military surveillance balloons that had flown over more than forty countries, and across five continents, including Latin America and Europe.[14][13][35]

This was the fifth detected Chinese balloon over the continental United States since 2017.[36] Chinese balloons suspected of surveillance activity have also entered U.S. airspace over Florida, Guam, and Hawaii.[37][38][15] In those instances, China was able to recover the balloons. No prior incursion persisted as long as the 2023 incident.[7] Of the preceding incidents, one occurred earlier during Biden's presidency (2021–present)[15][7] and three occurred during Donald Trump's presidency (2017–2021).[15][7][39]

The U.S. failed to detect some prior incursions at the time of their occurrence; other pre-2023 incursions had been detected but had remained unexplained, classified by U.S. authorities as unidentified anomalous phenomena. Many of the previously unidentified incidents had been handed to the Defense Department task force responsible for investigating such events.[40] In the two years preceding the 2023 incident, U.S. officials had identified some of the incursions as Chinese spy balloons.[40][41] The commander of the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), General Glen VanHerck, said that the U.S. failure to detect and identify previous incursions was "a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out". VanHerck has promoted the increased use of sensors and over-the-horizon radar to detect threats.[42][43][44]

In June 2020, a similar balloon was sighted in Sendai, Japan, which at the time was not identified as being of Chinese origin.[45][46] Likewise, in September 2021, another balloon with similar features was sighted in Hachinohe, Japan, although this was also not identified at the time as of Chinese origin.[47][48]

In February 2022, several balloons were spotted off the coast of Taiwan, which Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said likely were for meteorological observations for the PLA's Eastern Theater Command and posed no immediate security threat.[49]

Incident

Balloon

Comparison with the estimated size of the balloon

Size, propulsion, and payload

The balloon carried an underslung payload described as a "technology bay" estimated to be the size of "two or three school buses"[b] and was powered by sixteen solar arrays mounted on the payload. The balloon's own diameter was sizably larger at a length of 200 feet (61 m).[51] USNORTHCOM and NORAD Commander, General Glen VanHerck, estimated the payload weighed over 2,000 pounds (910 kg).[44]

National Security Council spokesman Admiral John Kirby said the craft had a propeller and could be maneuvered.[52] U.S. officials told foreign diplomats in Beijing that the craft had rudders and propellers.[53] A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said it had "limited self-steering capability".[54]

The U.S. Department of Defense said the balloon did not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground, and that shooting it down over water would be safer and increased the opportunity to study the wreckage for intelligence purposes.[55][56][57]

Signals intelligence capabilities

Images from U-2 flybys and forensic analysis of the payload showed antennas that likely were used for collecting and transmitting signals intelligence.[58][59] A publicly released U.S. State Department document, after the balloon was downed and debris collected, said that the balloon's solar arrays produced sufficient power to run "multiple active intelligence collection sensors" and that the antennas on the balloon could collect and geolocate communications, including radio and mobile phone signals, but it was unclear what specific devices were targets.[14] U.S. authorities identified the manufacturer of the balloon with high confidence as a company with direct ties to the People's Liberation Army. U.S. officials cited this as an example of military-civil fusion, in which Chinese civilian enterprises are highly integrated into China's military structure.[14]

Experts noted differences between the Chinese balloon and conventional weather balloons.[10][11] Standard weather balloons have typically been around 20 feet (6 m) wide, less than a quarter of the Chinese balloon's diameter.[11] Although weather sensors have become more sophisticated over time, they have remained relatively unchanged since the 1970s and 1980s, and have been consistent globally.[11] Experts interviewed by the BBC said it was unusual for weather balloons to last as long as the one involved in the incident and that the balloon "might have been more sophisticated than China claims".[12]

Former U.S. Air Force General and NORAD official Charles "Tuna" Moore said that the Chinese surveillance technology on the balloon was inconsistent with meteorological missions. He said that the Chinese would likely be interested in collecting emissions or signals from various radar, weapons, and communications systems to try to detect vulnerabilities in the defenses of the U.S. and its allies.[13]

Detection

External videos
U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Patrick Ryder during the press briefing
video icon Defense Department Briefing, February 3, 2023, C-SPAN[60]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:

High-altitude (stratospheric) balloons are extremely difficult to detect. A 2005 study by the U.S. Air Force (USAF)'s Air University states surveillance balloons often present very small radar cross-sections, "on the order of hundredths of a square meter, about the same as a small bird", and essentially no infrared signature, which complicates the use of anti-aircraft weapons.[56][61] A 2009 research paper by a USAF officer found that such aircraft "are inherently stealthy" because of a tiny infrared signature at high altitude (attributable to the balloon's inert gas which produces very low heat emissions) and because of the difficulty of radar detection (as balloons themselves lack sharp edges and metal structures).[62]

The balloon's first reporting sighting was on February 1, 2023, when civilians in a commercial airliner spotted it.[63] On the same day, former Billings Gazette editor Chase Doak[64] spotted the object above Billings, Montana, after seeing reports that the airspace around Billings was closed. He had initially assumed it was a star or a UFO.[3] Doak contacted his friend and Billings Gazette photographer Larry Mayer,[65] and the two photographed the balloon using telephoto lenses. Mayer also sent the images to various government agencies.[65] After the photographs were published in the Billings Gazette and received widespread media coverage, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Canadian Department of National Defence announced on February 2 that NORAD was aware of a high-altitude surveillance balloon believed to belong to China and had been tracking it for "several" days.[66][67] The balloon was flying at an altitude of 60,000 feet (18,000 m) over Billings at the time.[55]

American defense officials considered shooting the balloon down but initially decided not to due to the risk of debris injuring civilians on the ground.[68] A meeting was convened between Secretary of Defense Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, NORTHCOM/NORAD Commander General VanHerck, and other military commanders.[66] Biden was advised by officials not to shoot it down because debris could threaten civilians or cause property damage.[66]

Flight path

A map of the world, showing a snaking line from the middle of China, across the Pacific Ocean, through Alaska and Canada, and into the northwestern United States
Approximate route of the balloon[69]

The balloon entered U.S. airspace above the Aleutian Islands on January 28, 2023, then moved across Alaska, and entered Canadian airspace over the Yukon and Northwest Territories on January 30, 2023.[15] After flying southeast over British Columbia, the balloon then crossed into the U.S. in northern Idaho on January 31, and Montana on February 1,[15] where it was spotted over Billings.[67][55] Montana is the location of multiple nuclear missile installations, including Malmstrom Air Force Base, one of three U.S. Air Force bases from which intercontinental ballistic missiles are operated, raising suspicions that the balloon had been launched to surveil said nuclear installations.[67] A meteorological researcher calculated a possible trajectory along this path using the HYSPLIT atmospheric model, consistent with data on prevailing westerlies from China to Montana.[69] The balloon was spotted above northwest Missouri, near Kansas City, on February 3.[55]

An unnamed U.S. defense official told The Washington Post that the balloon was not a derelict object as it generally followed jet stream patterns but loitered when it was near sensitive sites, such as the Malmstrom AFB.[70] The Post said that that observation undermined Chinese assertions that the balloon was a wayward device.[70] The U.S. ground-based intercontinental nuclear arsenal is composed of about 400 LGM-30 Minuteman III missiles deployed in missile silos around Malmstrom AFB, Montana; Minot AFB, North Dakota; and Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming.[71] Experts interviewed by Time said that the balloon traveled at a much longer distance than what would be expected of a standard weather balloon and that Chinese officials should not have been surprised that the balloon would have eventually either crossed the U.S. or faced detection.[11]

The balloon was flying at an altitude of 60,000 feet (18,000 m). In comparison, the Concorde was the only commercial airliner to fly at 60,000 feet (18,000 m). Business jets can reach 51,000 feet (16,000 m), current commercial airliners can reach 45,000 feet (14,000 m), and the SR-71 had reached 90,000 feet (27,000 m).[72]

U.S. monitoring and counterintelligence

During the incident, a U.S. defense official stated that the balloon had "limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective". Nonetheless, the Pentagon took steps to protect its assets from leaking sensitive information to the balloon.[73] U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the U.S. military was able to collect valuable intelligence on the balloon while it was transiting North America.[25][74] VanHerck said that the U.S. Department of Defense obtained special authorization to collect intelligence against the balloon within the U.S.[43]

The balloon was monitored by crewed aircraft deployed by NORAD, including a Boeing E-3 Sentry Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS), a Boeing RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft from Nellis Air Force Base,[68] and a F-22 Raptor from Langley Air Force Base.[75] The U.S. Department of Defense said that, during the balloon's overflight of the United States, it had blocked the balloon from gathering intelligence and was able to study the balloon and its equipment.[57][76]

A U.S. government official said that at least two U-2S reconnaissance aircraft were used to gather data on the balloon while it was over the Midwest, though it was not clear at which points in the balloon's flight it was tracked by U-2S aircraft.[43] The War Zone commented that the U-2S's high flight ceiling exceeding 70,000 feet (21,000 m) allowed it to observe the balloon from within relatively close proximity (including from above), and its electronic warfare suite allowed the aircraft to jam or monitor radio emissions from the balloon, including data transmissions directed upwards towards Chinese communications satellites.[43]

Downing

On February 4, the balloon drifted to the Carolinas.[77] The Federal Aviation Administration closed airspace over the area in one of the largest temporary flight restrictions in U.S. history, "more than five times the restricted airspace surrounding Washington, D.C., and nearly double the area of the state of Massachusetts".[78] A ground stop was ordered on the coast at Myrtle Beach International Airport and Charleston International Airport in South Carolina, and Wilmington International Airport in North Carolina.[79][80][81] Military aircraft were reported to be over the Carolinas.[82] U.S. officials later stated that this was in preparation for the eventual downing of the balloon within American territorial waters over the Atlantic.[15]

External video
image icon High-definition video of the shootdown

The balloon was shot down off the coast of Surfside Beach, South Carolina, at an altitude of 58,000 feet (18,000 m) by an AIM-9X Sidewinder fired from a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor that had departed from Langley Air Force Base; the downing occurred at 2:39 p.m. eastern time.[7][83][8] The downing was the first recorded by a F-22 and the first of an aircraft over U.S. territory since World War II.[84]

Debris recovery

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a portion of the balloon from the Atlantic

Debris from the balloon was dispersed over an area of 2.25 square kilometres (0.87 sq mi),[85] where the ocean was about 47 feet (14 m) deep and collection efforts were initiated for further inspection.[86][57] VanHerck said the United States Navy was conducting recovery operations while the U.S. Coast Guard was securing the region where the debris fell.[87] Guided-missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin, guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, and dock landing ship USS Carter Hall were tasked with retrieving the balloon wreckage, alongside Coast Guard cutters and helicopters, U.S. Navy divers, and FBI counterintelligence agents.[88][89][90] General VanHerck stated that unmanned underwater vehicles controlled from rigid inflatable boats used side-scan sonar to locate the sunken debris. The unmanned vehicles analyzed the wreckage to identify potential threats to recovery divers, such as explosives or batteries with hazardous materials.[44] The sunken payload was estimated to weigh more than 2,000 pounds (910 kg).[44]

FBI Special Agents assigned to the Evidence Response Team process material recovered from the balloon.[91]

On February 6, some of the downed payload was sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for forensic analysis by the Bureau's Operational Technology Division.[4][92] Possible balloon debris was spotted later on the South Carolina coast, where police were asking residents to report other sightings.[93] China said it wanted the wreckage returned,[94][95] but the U.S. said it had no plans to do so.[4]

By February 13, the U.S. had recovered a significant portion of the balloon's payload has been recovered off the South Carolina coast. The payload measured 30-feet-long and had all of craft's tech gear and antennas.[96][97] NORTHCOM said: "Recovery operations near South Carolina continue. Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure. Weather permitted crane operations at the site late last week. Due to weather today, underwater recovery activities are limited but will resume as conditions permit."[97][96]

Response and reactions

United States

Federal government

Secretary of State Blinken postponed a scheduled diplomatic trip to China in response, which would have been the first such visit since 2018.[9][16][17][15][excessive citations] The White House did not want to announce the balloon's incursion to protect Blinken's trip, but press and social media interest made Pentagon officials comment.[64]

F-22 Raptor takes off from Joint Base Langley-Eustis during the balloon incident

In response to questions regarding the situation, on February 4, Biden said, "We're going to take care of it."[98] Later that day, U.S. officials disclosed that three days earlier he had granted permission to down the balloon.[15]

Pentagon officials stated that there was no earlier opportunity to shoot down over water, rebutting Trump and other Republicans who criticized the Biden administration for not shooting down the balloon earlier.[57][99] Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer added: "The bottom line here is that shooting down the balloon over water wasn't just the safest option, but it was the one that maximized our intel gain."[100]

On February 6, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman briefed 150 diplomats from about 40 embassies on China's balloon surveillance program,[101] said by U.S. officials to have been run for several years by the People's Liberation Army from Hainan on China's south coast, as part of an effort to "name and shame" Chinese espionage by publicly calling it out[102] Officials are separately reaching out to countries where they say there have been at least two dozen such overflights since 2018, including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines in addition to North and South America.[102][92]

The U.S. House Armed Services Committee held a February 7 hearing on wide-ranging Chinese military and intelligence threats including the balloon incursions.[103] Committee chair Republican Mike Rogers characterized the balloon as an intentionally calculated show of force.[104] A U.S. official told The Washington Post there was no sense that the balloon was a deliberate provocation, as it was part of an ongoing global surveillance program.[102] The U.S. House of Representatives voted 419–0 to adopt a resolution condemning China for the incident.[105][106]

Trump called reports of intrusions during his administration "fake disinformation";[40] his ex-top national security officials said they were unaware of any balloon incursions during their tenure.[107] Biden administration National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that improved airspace surveillance ordered by Biden after he took office had detected the previous incursions and "enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect".[108]

On February 10, the U.S. added six entities accused of being associated with China's balloon surveillance program to the U.S. Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List, a U.S. exports blacklist.[109] The entities, as listed in the final rule, published on February 14 are:[110][needs update]

  • Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd.;
  • China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute;
  • Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology Co., Ltd.;
  • Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd. (EMAST);
  • Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology Co., Ltd.; and
  • Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd.

Canada

Canadian officials and Global Affairs Canada summoned the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, to Ottawa while the Department of National Defence announced it was monitoring the situation alongside the United States through NORAD.[18][111] A statement from the Canadian Armed Forces said there was no threat to Canadians, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly would remain in contact with Blinken.[112]

China

On February 3, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mao Ning said: "It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course."[17] She said China regretted the unintentional incident, citing force majeure.[113] On February 6, Mao said that the U.S. "hyped up the incident on purpose and even used force to attack", and called the shoot down "an unacceptable and irresponsible action".[114]

Following the downing on February 5, Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he had filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Embassy in response to the incident. Xie accused the United States of indiscriminately using force against the civilian airship that was about to leave U.S. airspace in violation of "the spirit of international law and international practice" and said that the Chinese government reserved the right to "take further necessary responses".[15][114] On February 6, a Chinese diplomat said in an interview with French news network LCI that the United States should return the recovered balloon debris to China.[115]

The incident coincided in timing with the release of science fiction film The Wandering Earth 2 in mainland China, causing some netizens and media to jokingly refer to the incident as "The Wandering Balloon".[116][c]

On February 12, Chinese authorities said that they had discovered an unidentified flying object near the Yellow Sea off eastern Shandong, and were preparing to shoot it down.[117]

On February 13, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its spokesperson Wang Wenbin, claimed that the U.S. high-altitude balloons had "illegally crossed China's airspace" more than ten times since 2022. China provided no evidence for its claim.[118] The U.S. denied ever operating surveillance balloons over China, calling the claim "the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control" to distract from China's "operation of a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents."[118]

NATO

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the balloon "confirms a pattern of Chinese behavior where we see that China has invested heavily in new capabilities, including different types of surveillance and intelligence platforms", and that it presents security challenges for the members of the alliance.[119]

Other countries

Amidst the ongoing Australia–China trade war, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said: "I believe the US has managed this as carefully as possible. They brought the balloon down over their own territorial waters."[120][121][122]

Venezuela's foreign ministry condemned the United States for shooting down what they stated was an unmanned civilian aircraft which posed no threat.[123][124]

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated on February 13 that the United Kingdom's government would do "whatever it takes" to defend the country from observation balloons. He added that the Royal Air Force had placed Typhoon jets on stand-by.[125] Furthermore, ex-MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger, noting the systematic nature of China's surveillance program, opined that the UK must "wake up" to China's threat to global security.[126]

Media reactions

Analysis

Michael Clarke, a British defense analyst, described the incident as a "stunt gone wrong" and said that the Chinese were "completely in the wrong.[127] He surmised that the fly-over was China's way of retaliating to an agreement that was signed by the United States and the Philippines on February 2; the agreement allowed the US military access to four more military bases in the Philippines in response to China's nine dash line claims to the South China Sea which Clarke said was illegal and encroached upon the territorial waters of the Philippines.[128][129]

John Blaxland, a professor of international security and intelligence studies at the Australian National University, said that the Chinese likely expected the balloon to be detected, he further suggested that the balloon being detected was the goal. Blaxland believes that one of the reason the balloon was launched, was to embarrass the US, with intelligence gathering being a secondary goal.[130] He also said that the balloon could be designed to test the resolve of Washington.[131]

On the shooting of the balloon, Christopher Twomey, a security scholar, said that any Chinese response would be restrained and that China would want to "sweep this under the rug" and emphasize senior-level visits within months.[132] The Washington Post columnist Ishaan Tharoor contextualized the incident as part of Cold War II.[133]

Satire

The incident was satirized in the cold open of the show Saturday Night Live the evening after it was shot down.[134] In the sketch, performer Bowen Yang portrayed an anthropomorphized depiction of the downed balloon being interviewed by MSNBC journalist Katy Tur (played by Chloe Fineman).[135] Some sources paid particular attention to Yang's line "Congrats! You shot a balloon!", with USA Today using it in the headline of its coverage.[136]

Further incursions and responses

Further information: List of high-altitude object events in 2023

On February 3, the U.S. Department of Defense stated that a second Chinese surveillance balloon had been detected, this one flying over Latin America.[20][21] The Costa Rican General Directorate of Civil Aviation confirmed the incursion by an object "not of Costa Rican origin" that locals had first seen on February 2.[137] The Colombian Air Force said that on the morning of February 3, it had detected an object with "characteristics similar to those of a balloon" at a height of 55,000 feet (17,000 m) and traveling at a speed of 25 knots (46 kilometres per hour; 29 miles per hour), and after determining it was not a threat to national security and defense or to air safety, had continued to track it until it left Colombian airspace.[124][138] Sightings of the balloon were also reported from Venezuela,[139] specifically from Maracaibo.[140] On February 6, Mao Ning, the spokeswoman for the Chinese government, confirmed the balloon belongs to China, but said that it was used for "flight tests" and was blown off-course in much the same manner as the one spotted over North America.[141][19]

On February 10, another high-altitude object was shot down on the vicinity of Deadhorse, Alaska, over the Beaufort Sea;[142] recovery efforts by the Alaska National Guard on the sea ice are on-going.

On February 11, on previous orders of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a "small, cylindrical object" was shot down over the Yukon Territory for violating Canadian air space; both U.S. and Canadian aircraft had scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 jet fighter made the kill.[143]

On February 12, the US military shot down a fourth unidentified object over Lake Huron, within the maritime territory of Michigan.[144][145]

On February 14, the US government announced that the latter three high-altitude object shot down over the North America were likely private entities with no relations to China. Further analysis and debris collections were underway.[146]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Counter to American and Canadian officials, China maintains the balloon was a "civilian aircraft".
  2. ^ Sources citing the defense official who gave the estimate did not identify what size of a bus was referenced. Lengths of U.S. school buses vary but are limited to 45 feet (14 m) per specifications defined by the National Congress on School Transportation.[50]
  3. ^ The Chinese name for "The Wandering Balloon" (流浪气球, Liúlàng Qìqiú) is a pun on the Chinese name for "The Wandering Earth" (流浪地球, Liúlàng Dìqiú).

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