Beijing.
The conclusion of the spy balloon further strains the relationship between China and the USA. In Beijing, people have their own way of reading it.
The relationship between the two world powers China and the USA is complicated in every respect. After the launch of a suspected spy balloon by the US Army on Sunday night, the fronts hardened further. Both sides are making accusations against each other. For the chinese side The affair is particularly unpleasant: observers in Beijing suspect that behind the scenes, some ministry officials and military personnel may lose their careers.
Externally, of course, the Chinese government shows no regrets. Instead, she goes rhetorically on the offensive. “Some American politicians and media are only exploiting the situation to slander China,” the Foreign Ministry said in a first statement.
But the political damage is there. China and the USA are the most powerful states on the planet and see each other as strategic rivals. It’s about political influence in the Pacific region, in Africa and elsewhere. It’s about technological leadership and the competition between two very different social systems. Beijing regards America’s security guarantees for Taiwan as interference in its internal affairs.
China and USA: Espionage has been common practice for many years
Recently, there had been diplomatic efforts to ease the complicated relationship: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken originally wanted to be President in Beijing on Sunday Xi Jinping and top foreign policy leader Wang Yi. Blinken canceled this visit after the balloon was spotted over American airspace. China’s actions were “irresponsible” and a “clear violation of American sovereignty and international law,” Washington said after a phone call from Blinken to Wang Yi.
Taking a step back, China and the US have been spying on each other on every imaginable level for many years. And usually with more sophisticated means than an antiquated one surveillance balloon.
In this respect, it would probably also have been possible to silently put the affair on hold while saving face for both sides. However, this would probably have assumed that the chinese government Shows sincere remorse and communicates transparently. Read here: Think tank dispels myth of dominant China
China: Balloon allegedly flown over US by ‘force majeure’
China’s first reaction was that the flying object was some kind of meteorological one research balloon, which was lost from its planned route due to strong westerly winds, was obviously interpreted by Washington as a lie. “We know it’s a surveillance balloon,” a Pentagon spokesman said. Beijing said China had repeatedly informed the US that the balloon was for civilian purposes and had flown over the US “due to force majeure, which was completely accidental.”
In fact, there is a lot to be said for the American reading: it must have been a big coincidence that the balloon in the sparsely populated state of Montana fell over a US Air Force Base flew, on which 150 ICBMs equipped with nuclear warheads are stored. In addition, Washington had registered at least three similar espionage cases from China in recent years, but had not previously made them public.
When US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken canceled his planned visit to China on Friday, Beijing quickly denied in a written statement that there had ever been an “officially planned visit”. Even Wang Yi, after all, the leading foreign policy maker People’s Republicdid not reveal any self-criticism during his Saturday phone call with Blinken: “We do not accept baseless speculation and propaganda”. Comment: USA and China – The world does not need a new war
USA and China: Relations at their worst in decades
And after the US President Joe Biden had the spy balloon launched, the Chinese government protested again, saying it was an “overreaction” and a “violation of international practice”. A spokesman for China’s defense ministry said it reserves the right to “use necessary resources in similar situations.”
The Chinese state media are currently even operating a kind of perpetrator-victim reversal: In view of the rude finger pointing at the USA, they read as if a US aircraft had entered Chinese airspace at the weekend.
The consequences of such communication could be very strained relationships between Beijing and Washington are becoming increasingly dangerous. The atmosphere is so charged that any diplomatic dispute could potentially degenerate into a military escalation. Bilateral relations are in the worst shape they have been since the early 1990s. There is also a lack of communication channels: China does not even have an ambassador in Washington at the moment. The previous ambassador, Qin Gang, was appointed foreign minister in Beijing in December. Since then, the position in the US capital has been vacant.
Beijing and Washington: New trouble is already emerging
And new trouble is already on the horizon: Kevin McCarthy, the new speaker of the US House of Representatives, is likely to get through balloon incident feel all the more encouraged to go ahead with his planned visit to Taiwan – not least in order to score points with his core constituency. When his predecessor Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei last summer, Beijing responded with a simulated island blockade and wild threats. If McCarthy also travels to Taiwan, China’s replica could probably be a bit more martial.
Meanwhile, the Colombian army announced that a suspicious object had also been sighted in the airspace of the South American country. It showed “properties similar to a balloon” and was moving at an average speed of 25 knots, it said. According to the Colombian Air Force the object was discovered on February 3 at an altitude of around 17,000 meters. It had entered national airspace in the northern sector of the country. The Luftwaffe tracked the object until it left the airspace again. There was no threat to national security or flight safety.
A spokesman for the US Department of Defense said last Friday that there may be a second spy balloon hovering over Latin America.
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