began tracking the spy balloon as it lifted off from Hainan Island in southern China in January.Īn academic is at the center of China’s ambitions to watch the world from the sky. shot down, President Biden should share what he knows, Michael Brendan Dougherty writes in National Review. To limit speculation about the other objects the U.S. and China have few offramps for de-escalating a crisis, and the next one could be much harder to defuse, Fareed Zakaria writes in The Washington Post. is overreacting to fairly conventional spying, Emma Ashford argues in Foreign Policy. is taking a more forceful approach than it has in the past. In its response to the balloon, the Biden administration may be trying to show China that the U.S. For years, some analysts have argued that the U.S. There is another side to this, too: the risk of de-escalating too far. “As we see with balloons - who predicted a balloon mini-crisis? - the possible permutations are endless.” It could be an unplanned military encounter in the sea or air,” said my colleague Chris Buckley, who also covers China. Many analysts worry that existing strains between the two countries, like those over the status of Taiwan and China’s territorial claims over nearby waters, could quickly transform into a deadly conflict. In that sense, the flying objects are a case study for how tensions between the U.S. has made clear it’s not going to just let this fade, the Chinese response has gotten more aggressive,” said my colleague Vivian Wang, who covers China. The balloon episode could hurt those efforts. But officials from both countries had recently started to work to mend ties. and China had deteriorated in recent years as the Trump and Biden administrations took a more aggressive tone than previous administrations and imposed trade restrictions. is using balloons over disputed territory or that it surveils China through other means, such as planes and satellites, as it has in the past. That response leaves open the possibility that the U.S. is flying high-altitude balloons over Chinese airspace. using similar surveillance technology over China? American officials denied China’s allegations that the U.S. Is it aliens? “There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said yesterday. America’s adversaries, like China or Russia, could also be testing what they can fly over the U.S. officials have released more details about what they say is a Chinese spy program that has sent high-altitude balloons over more than 40 countries for years.Īre the objects meant to spy on the U.S.? They could be, but officials have not confirmed or denied that. 4 near the coast of South Carolina.Ĭhina continues to insist that the balloon was a civilian weather research airship that was blown off course. as the earlier Chinese spy balloon, which drifted across the continental U.S. They were low enough to pose a threat to civilian aircraft, John Kirby, a White House spokesman, said yesterday. detected and shot down unidentified flying objects - first around Alaska, then over Canada and lastly over Lake Huron. On three straight days starting Friday, the U.S. Today’s newsletter will break through the speculation and memes to explain what we know, and don’t, about these flying objects and the implications of escalating tensions between the world’s two biggest powers. Much of it is serious, about a potential second Cold War, this time between the U.S. Some of it is silly, including jokes about aliens and U.F.O.s. The lack of answers has prompted much speculation. is simply now detecting a kind of surveillance China has been doing for a long time. It’s not clear whether the balloon was a sign that China is getting more aggressive, or if the U.S. has drawn a clear link between China and the spy balloon, though not with the other three objects. But we have yet to learn what those objects were or what they were for.Ĭhina’s role is another unanswered question. They have revealed little about the other objects, though they did acknowledge yesterday that the three objects were not sending out communication signals. officials have not explained what kind of information the spy balloon was trying to obtain. ![]() military shot out of the sky in recent days. ![]() There is still a lot we don’t know about the Chinese spy balloon and the three other objects the U.S.
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