After being spotted over Montana and floating through the U.S. for a few days, the U.S. military shot down a balloon that was flying high in the sky from China on Saturday.
The action drew a harsh rebuke from China, claiming rights to “take further actions.”
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a threatening statement that said, “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response,” the Deseret News reported.
China said the balloon was for checking the weather and belonged to a civilian. But U.S. military leaders determined the balloon could possibly be used for surveillance, so President Joe Biden signed off on shooting the balloon down with a missile over the ocean off the coast of the Carolinas.
Was this the first time a balloon flew over the U.S.?
Despite calls from Republicans and former officials under former President Donald Trump’s administration, a senior Defense Department official says this isn’t the first time a Chinese spy balloon entered the U.S. The official claims that Chinese balloons crossed American airspace on three occasions during Trump’s presidency, Politico reported.
According to Defense Department officials, “those balloons never stayed above U.S. territory for a significant period of time,” per Politico.
Why would China use a balloon to spy on the U.S.?
Some Americans have wondered why China would be using such seemingly rudimentary spying tactics. The high altitude balloons can go undetected because they fly at soaring heights of 80,000 to 120,000 feet, while commercial airliners fly at 40,000 feet and fighter aircraft fly at 65,000 feet.
They can also be equipped with modern spy cameras, radar sensors, and they’re significantly cheaper than satellites or drones. The U.S. has even considered outfitting the Pentagon’s surveillance network with balloons, according to BBC.
Some experts also speculate that the balloon was meant to be spotted and was sending a message.
“It’s possible that being spotted was the whole point,” Arthur Holland Michel of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs told BBC. “China might be using the balloon to demonstrate that it has a sophisticated technological capability to penetrate U.S. airspace without risking a serious escalation. In this regard, a balloon is a pretty ideal choice.”
How did other lawmakers, world leaders respond to the balloon?
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted his support on Saturday:
“Today, the United States brought down China’s high-altitude surveillance balloon that violated American and Canadian airspace and international law. Canada strongly supports this action — we’ll keep working together, including through @NORADCommand, on our security and defence.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the move, tweeting:
“I strongly condemn President Xi’s brazen incursion into American airspace, and I commend President Biden’s leadership in taking down the Chinese balloon over water to ensure safety for all Americans. Now we can collect the equipment and analyze the technology used by the CCP.”
On “Fox News Sunday,” Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called it a “trial balloon” and says that Biden failed the test.
“The Biden administration should never have let the Chinese spy balloon traverse the entire U.S. The Chinese communists tested Joe Biden, and he failed,” Cotton wrote in the tweet.
Venezuela condemned the U.S. for shooting down the balloon, calling it an “attack by the United States against an unmanned civilian aircraft of Chinese origin,” Bloomberg reported.