The US-China relations have been strained for some time now, but the recent news of a suspected Chinese spy balloon flying over the US has taken the tensions to a new level. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his upcoming trip to China in response to the incident. The Chinese foreign ministry has admitted that the balloon is a “civilian airship” used mainly for weather research, but the US military official said the incident is serious due to the “audacity” of the Chinese government.
The balloon – which is the size of three busses – was spotted over Montana where 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles are buried in missile silos at Malmstrom Air Force Base. A US military official said the incident is serious because of the “audacity” of the Chinese government, rather than any intelligence gain. While existing satellites are able to gather similar amounts of information, the timing of the spy balloon – right before the planned Blinken trip – and the fact that this is right over the continental US contribute to the seriousness of this moment, the official said.
The US government has been tracking the balloon for several days as it made its way over the northern United States, adding it was “traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.” A senior US defense official said senior military officials had advised Biden not to shoot it down due to fear the debris could pose a safety threat to people on the ground.
Sources familiar with the matter tell CNN that is appears that the Chinese spy balloon movements appear to rely primarily on the jet stream, allowing Beijing to predict its likely path. China can control the surveillance balloon to an extent, for example, by turning on and off the surveillance gear inside of it. The balloon’s surveillance equipment appears to be powered by a solar array, one US official said, which would provide the system with a reliable source of power at high altitude. But the solar array does not appear to be connected to any type of motor that would allow China to steer the balloon, the official added.
The US official said there were similar incidents with suspected Chinese surveillance balloons over Hawaii and Guam in recent years. Pentagon officials said they did not believe the balloon had surveillance or intelligence-gathering capabilities above and beyond Chinese spy satellites in low earth orbit, but unlike satellites that pass rapidly over a location every 90 minutes, a spy balloon can loiter over a spot and gather more of a “pattern of life” of a particular site, the official said.
The US-China tensions have taken a new turn with the recent news of a suspected Chinese spy balloon flying over the US. The Chinese foreign ministry has admitted that the balloon is a “civilian airship” used mainly for weather research, but the US military official said the incident is serious due to the “audacity” of the Chinese government. The US government has been tracking the balloon for several days and has raised their concerns with Beijing about it. Sources familiar with the matter tell CNN that is appears that the Chinese spy balloon movements appear to rely primarily on the jet stream, allowing Beijing to predict its likely path. The US official said there were similar incidents with suspected Chinese surveillance balloons over Hawaii and Guam in recent years. The US military has advised Biden not to shoot it down due to fear the debris could pose a safety threat to people on the ground.
Source: www.cnn.com