WASHINGTON/BEIJING – The US Coast Guard on Monday imposed a short lived safety zone in waters off South Carolina through the navy’s search and restoration of particles from a suspected Chinese spy balloon {that a} US fighter jet shot down.
The White House mentioned the balloon’s flight over the United States had completed nothing to enhance already tense relations with China and its nationwide safety spokesperson dismissed Beijing’s rivalry that the balloon was for meteorological functions as straining credulity.
Beijing condemned the capturing down of the balloon and urged Washington to point out restraint over the episode. White House nationwide safety spokesperson John Kirby instructed reporters: “Nobody wants to see conflict here.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a deliberate Feb.5-6 go to to China due to the balloon’s flight into US airspace final week. It was shot down off the Atlantic Coast on Saturday.
Kirby mentioned Blinken would search to reschedule the journey when the time is true.
The journey to Beijing would have been the primary by a US secretary of state since 2018 because the United States and China have sought to fix ties which have been underneath extreme pressure over a spread of disagreements, together with US makes an attempt to dam Chinese entry to some cutting-edge applied sciences.
Intelligence gathering
The United States was capable of research the balloon whereas it was aloft and officers hope to glean priceless intelligence on its operations by retrieving as many parts as doable, Kirby mentioned.
China referred to as the capturing down of the balloon an “obvious overreaction”.
“China firmly opposes and strongly protests against this,” Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng mentioned in remarks to the US Embassy in Beijing posted on the ministry’s web site.
US officers have performed down the balloon’s affect on nationwide safety, though a profitable restoration may doubtlessly give the United States perception into China’s spying capabilities.
Senior US officers have supplied to transient former Trump administration officers on the small print of what the White House mentioned was three China balloon overflights when Donald Trump was president. US officers mentioned these balloons got here to mild after Trump left workplace in January 2021 and was succeeded by President Joe Biden.
A senior US common accountable for bringing down the balloon mentioned on Monday the navy had not detected earlier spy balloons earlier than the one which appeared on Jan. 28 over the United States and referred to as it an “awareness gap.”
However, Air Force General Glen VanHerck, head of US North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command mentioned US intelligence decided the earlier flights after the very fact based mostly on “additional means of collection” of intelligence with out providing additional particulars on whether or not that could be cyber espionage, phone intercepts or human sources.
On Monday, Chinese international ministry spokesperson Mao Ning mentioned China discovered that its balloon had drifted over the United States after being notified by Washington.
“The unintended entry of this airship (into the US) is entirely an isolated, accidental incident. It tests the sincerity the US has in improving and stabilizing bilateral relations and the way it handles crises,” she mentioned.
Mao mentioned one other balloon, noticed over Latin America, was an unmanned civilian airship on a check flight that “severely deviated and unintendedly entered the space above Latin America because it was affected by the weather and because it has limited self-steering capability.”
On Sunday, Colombia’s navy mentioned it sighted an airborne object much like a balloon after the Pentagon mentioned on Friday that one other Chinese balloon was flying over Latin America.
Possible repercussions
While calling for US restraint, China has warned of “serious repercussions” and mentioned it can use the mandatory means to take care of “similar situations”, with out elaborating. Some coverage analysts mentioned they count on any response to be finely calibrated, nonetheless, to forestall diplomatic ties turning into even worse.
Brokerage ING mentioned in a Monday notice that the incident may exacerbate the “tech war” and would have a damaging near-term affect on China’s yuan foreign money.
“Both sides will likely impose more export bans on technology in different industries. This is a new threat to supply chain disruption, although the risk of logistical disruption from COVID restrictions has now disappeared,” it mentioned.
“This new risk is more of a long-term risk than an imminent one,” ING mentioned. —Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
