In reaction to the launch of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the United States, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his forthcoming trip to China, marking a significant new step in the relations between Washington and Beijing.
Blinken, scheduled to travel for Beijing on Friday evening, stated during a news conference that the high-altitude observation balloon hovering above the continental United States "established the conditions that undercut the trip's objective."
US-China Tension
On Friday morning, he called China's senior diplomat, Wang Yi, to advise him of the postponement. Blinken said that the United States is convinced that the balloon over the United States is a Chinese spy balloon.
On Friday, the Chinese foreign ministry said that the errant balloon was a "civilian airship" used mostly for meteorological research. According to CNN, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson's comment was the first confirmation that the spy balloon originated in China.
A senior State Department source stated that the United States has recognized China's "expression of remorse" but that the balloon's presence in US airspace constituted "a blatant breach of our sovereignty and international law, and it is unacceptable that this has occurred."
On Friday, a Pentagon spokesperson estimated that the balloon would linger over the United States for many days. On Friday, the balloon was seen in Missouri and is now en route to the East Coast.
Per Telegraph via MSN, Blinken stated that the event "undermined" the trip's aim and that "in light of this ongoing situation, a visit to Beijing at this time would be inappropriate."
When asked why the administration canceled the trip, given that US defense experts believed the Chinese balloon was incapable of collecting necessary intelligence, a State Department official stated that the event "would have significantly reduced the itinerary" of the trip.
US authorities have stated that they do not believe the balloon could collect information that could not have been obtained via other means, namely spy satellites. However, the suspension of Blinken's high-level trip due to the incident demonstrates how tight ties are between Washington and Beijing at a time when both sides are erecting protections to prevent a new crisis.
Danny Russel, vice president of the Asia Society and former US ambassador, stated that the Biden administration's decision to postpone the trip was a "knowledge that the event would hijack the agenda, overshadow the strategic issues, and dominate the media coverage of the visit."
The discovery of the Chinese spy balloon increases the pressure on President Joe Biden, who has been sensitive to Republican criticisms that he is not tough enough on China. However, Republicans were divided on the issue of canceling the trip.
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee urged Blinken to use the trip to send China a strong message about the suspected spy balloon. However, US officials looked anxious about the optics of the visit in light of the invasion, although experts deemed the event, even if it were an espionage act, to be unremarkable.
The Pentagon made an unexpected declaration on Thursday that the balloon was drifting across high-altitude US airspace and is being monitored but is not deemed a threat to persons on the ground. Officials from the United States momentarily contemplated shooting down the Chinese spy balloon owing to the possibility of falling debris to people on the ground, but ultimately decided against it.
According to a US defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, the airship first entered US territory late last week over the Aleutian Islands, then drifted over mainland Alaska, down through Canada, and entered the continental United States in the vicinity of northern Idaho and Montana.
Beijing has a history of misrepresenting military initiatives as civilian research, as evidenced by a 2021 hypersonic missile test that the Foreign Ministry described as a standard test of reusable space vehicles.
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Chinese Spy Ballooon May be Equipped With Long-Range Camera
The Pentagon said the balloon was about 60,000 ft. over the continental United States at midday on Friday. The balloon's flight route had put it above Montana, causing concerns that it was gathering information on nuclear missile locations in the state.
According to a 2015 American Leadership & Policy Foundation assessment, rogue states might fly balloons carrying nuclear weapons above the United States, which could be used to conduct attacks or disrupt the electrical infrastructure. Considering that a regular bus is around 40 feet long, the spherical balloon may measure approximately 120 ft. by 120 ft. This would be consistent with the dimensions of previous high-altitude balloons.
Images captured from the ground reveal that a gadget attached to the balloon is equipped with enormous solar panels that power onboard monitoring equipment and a mechanism for controlling the balloon's movement.
Such a spy balloon would be equipped with a long-range camera and radar to identify the presence and movement of difficult-to-find items. Such a balloon would also be equipped with a communication device capable of relaying the findings to its controller in real-time.
Intriguingly, authorities feel that the balloon is not any more successful than Chinese satellites, which can also be used to perform surveillance of the United States. Chinese surveillance satellites include comparable sensors to those US officials think to be aboard the spy balloon, raising doubts as to why Beijing would undertake such an audacious operation on the day of Blinken's postponed visit.
According to authorities, the Chinese surveillance balloon has chosen a flight course that will take it over several critical facilities. One such location may be military locations, such as those in Montana, where intercontinental ballistic missile silos are located, as per Daily Mail.
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