CCP Threatens US for Shooting Down Spy Balloon Amid Bipartisan Alarm Over China Threat

(Left) The Chinese balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, S.C., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Right) The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson participates in a group sail during the Rim of the Pacific exercise off the coast of Hawaii, on July 26, 2018. Randall Hill/Reuters; Petty Officer 1st Class Arthurgwain L. Marquez/U.S. Navy via AP

Amid growing bipartisan uproar over Beijing’s violation of U.S. sovereignty, a Chinese spokesperson issued a veiled threat vowing that Beijing would “resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests” over the Pentagon’s shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon.

The spy balloon was first located on Feb. 1 floating over Montana, where it loitered over sensitive areas where nuclear warheads are kept in silos.

Discovery of the balloon prompted a flurry of calls by lawmakers and others to shoot it down, with the U.S. military finally downing it on Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina using a single AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile.

The remnants of a large balloon drift above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, on Feb. 4, 2023. Chad Fish via AP

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) criticized the military strike on the object, claiming it was a “civilian airship” used for meteorological and other scientific purposes and that it had strayed into U.S. airspace “completely accidentally.”

U.S. officials have flatly dismissed such claims, describing the balloon as a military spycraft with a device hanging from the bottom about the size of a small jet.

‘Unique Opportunities’ for Counterintelligence

Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, who serves as commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), said that the U.S. military and intelligence agencies exercised “maximum precaution” to prevent the craft from collecting intelligence.

VanHerck added that waiting for some time before downing the balloon provided “unique opportunities” to conduct counterintelligence and that the vessel “did not present a physical military threat.”

Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on March 24, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

China’s attitude toward the spycraft has hardened considerably following a mild initial response on Feb. 3, in which Beijing described the balloon’s presence as an accident and expressed “regret” for the fact that the airship entered U.S. airspace.

But that tone changed after the U.S. military shot it down around six nautical miles off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean over relatively shallow water that could help efforts to recover parts of the  Chinese surveillance equipment.

More Balloons

Beijing’s rhetoric around the downing of the balloon has hardened in tone, much like the way it has confronted Washington over issues like the CCP’s claims to massive swaths of the South China Sea and its threats to “reunify” Taiwan with mainland China, by force if necessary.

Balloons suspected to be Chinese spycraft have been spotted over numerous countries, with Beijing confirming that a balloon spotted over Latin America this past weekend was from China.

The Colombian air force mobilized to monitor the object but determined it posed no threat to national security.

China’s foreign ministry confirmed on Monday that the vessel over Colombia was Chinese and claimed that it had entered the country’s airspace accidentally. Ning told a press briefing that the balloon had “deviated greatly” from its course due to “limited maneuverability” and that it was of a “civilian nature and used for flight tests.”

Media in Taiwan have reported that mysterious white balloons had been spotted over the island at least three times in the past two years.

Taiwanese navy launches a U.S.-made Standard missile from a frigate during the annual Han Kuang Drill, on the sea near the Suao navy harbor in Yilan county, Taiwan, on July 26, 2022. Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images

Resolution to Condemn China Over Spy Balloon

Meanwhile, congressional lawmakers were in talks on Monday about a bipartisan resolution to denounce China over the spy balloon.

“I think you could see that this week,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters on Monday, adding that the resolution would be focused on China. “I think our greatest strength is when we speak with one voice to China.”

U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) delivers remarks on the debt ceiling at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 6, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

While Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for waiting days to shoot down the balloon, they said the resolution should be bipartisan in nature and suggested it wouldn’t seek to blame President Joe Biden.

“We want it to be a bipartisan resolution about China, not about us fighting each other,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters on Monday. “It’s too important of an issue, you know. We want to stand strong together against China instead of having our internal fights.”

Developments around the apparent spy balloon have highlighted the complex and fragile nature of the U.S.-China rivalry, which some fear could escalate into an outright war.

Paul Crespo, president of the Center for American Defense Studies, said that the trajectory of the balloon that was shot down by the U.S. military could “absolutely” suggest that China’s communist regime was conducting a dry run for an attack using balloon-mounted weapons.

Crespo warned that the regime could use high-altitude balloons to conduct electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks on vital U.S. bases and infrastructure.

“While China has tested hypersonic missiles launched from balloons in the past, that isn’t a likely use for these airships,” Crespo told The Epoch Times in an email.

“The biggest threat is sending one or more of these high altitude balloons over the U.S. with a small nuclear EMP device.”

EMPs are bursts of electromagnetic energy that disrupt communications and damage electronic equipment.

Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.