China Seeking to Use Balloon Incident to Undermine Trust of American People: Gen. Robert Spalding

Robert Spalding, retired Brigadier General of the U.S. Air Force, in an interview on "American Thought Leaders." NTD TV/Screencap via NTD

The balloon incident is part of unrestricted warfare waged by the CCP against the United States to undermine the trust of the American people, according to Gen. Spalding, Retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General.

“We are seeing the unfolding of unrestricted warfare, the use of all kinds of tools, whether it be TikTok or balloons, or even the financial markets, China is basically undermining the faith and confidence of the American people in our ability to defend ourselves and continue in the form of the Republic upon which it was founded,” Spalding said in “China in Focus” on Feb. 10 on NTD, the sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

To that end, he said that the Chinese regime is working to generate fear, citing the Chinese spy balloon incident to illustrate his point.

According to the Pentagon, the balloon entered the United States twice on Feb.28, with a brief incursion over Canada’s airfield, traveling through multiple sensitive military sites before an F-22 fighter jet shot it down from the sky off the Carolina coast a week later.

(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

Spalding singled out the comment of President Joe Biden that the Chinese spy balloon that floated over U.S. airspace for over a week was “not a major breach” of national security.

“I think the piece that Washington DC misses is the psychological and political narrative that goes along with allowing the balloon to completely traverse the entirety of the United States. And that’s really the more important part to Beijing,” he said.

“They’re trying to signal to the world that China is rising and America is weak, ‘Look how weak they are. They can’t even stop this balloon, this Chinese surveillance balloon, from going across the entire country.’

“The more fear they can create, the more uncertainty they can create about our ability to thrive and survive in a democratic republic, [the more] they win. That is what they’re looking for, because that allows them to not only continue in power in China, but continue to form and shape the world in ways that support that continuation of power of the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.

The general depicted it as an effort to indoctrinate the belief that “democracy is bad, we need a system more like China’s, so that it can protect us.”

Put on ‘Back Foot’

Spalding singled out a Feb. 7 statement from Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder that China’s Defense Minister, Wei Fenghe, had declined a request from the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for a phone call about the downed balloon.

He said that China would deem it a weakness if they see the United States’ continuous need to call them.

“So we have to begin to realize that the way that you work with them is really to make them approach you, not to have you approach them consistently. You have to put them a little bit back on their back foot,” he contended.

In his opinion, the United States should have shot down the balloon immediately as it crossed U.S. territory before “bringing the ambassador in and issuing a severe demarche.”

EMP Attack

Spalding echoed the concerns issued by some experts that the Chinese spy balloon could have been used for prepping electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks on the United States.

He suggested that America should prepare itself for such a potential conflict.

“We don’t have to have the entire country be survivable, but certainly in communities so that they can continue to call first responders or medical help or do Trent financial transactions. We need to have the ability to continue to operate as a country,” he said.

Spalding predicted that the US–China relations will continue to “slide backwards and downwards,” and urged America to prepare for the scenario.

“So if we don’t actually begin to take the steps now to ensure the successful protection of a supply chain, things like antibiotics and microelectronics, or we harden our infrastructure, then at some point, there’s going to be a shock to the system and it’s going to be devastating, economically, financially, politically,” Spalding said.

Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.