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 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.”
‘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.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.
“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.