The US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
The China expert Saskia Hieber says in an interview that Beijing is also spying on us.
Munich – An alleged spy balloon has been causing tensions between Washington and Beijing for days.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his planned visit to China.
Beijing, on the other hand, cannot understand the excitement and speaks of a civilian "airship" that has gone off course.
The China expert Saskia Hieber classifies the incident in an interview.
Ms. Hieber, states spying on each other is nothing unusual.
Especially when it comes to states that see themselves as rivals.
Why does a balloon of all things cause such a stir?
Relations between the US and China have been strained for a long time, so it didn't take much for the situation to escalate.
I believe, however, that the Americans are exploiting this incident in this way for domestic political reasons.
US President Joe Biden is under pressure after confidential documents were found at his home, and Republicans are relentlessly exploiting this scandal to paint Biden as weak.
For Biden, this incident is now a great opportunity to show strength.
You didn't just want to put in a flag, you wanted to hit a really big stake.
One of the few things Republicans and Democrats can agree on is an unforgiving stance on China.
Will there now begin a kind of outbidding competition, who appears the hardest?
Hopefully not.
The current conflict began with the trade war that Donald Trump launched.
And that harms both sides equally, the USA and China.
However, Biden recently escalated further by issuing a ban on exporting advanced chips to China.
That may impress American voters, but it's a huge problem for Chinese companies and ultimately for the American economy.
And then there is China's proximity to Russia.
It would have been important if Blinken went to Beijing to keep the lines of communication open.
The fact that China has now launched this spy balloon was clumsy.
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Saskia Hieber is a lecturer in international politics with a focus on Asia-Pacific at the Academy for Civic Education in Tutzing and lecturer in international politics - East Asia at the University of Regensburg.
Her research focuses on the foreign and defense policies of the countries in the region.
© Tutzing Academy for Political Education
"China has been investing many billions in armaments and espionage for years"
However, China claims that the object shot down is not a spy balloon at all, but a civilian “airship” used for meteorological purposes.
That's unbelievable.
China has been investing billions in armaments and espionage for years.
If it really was an off-course weather balloon, why didn't Beijing notify international airspace security institutions?
Beijing's statements make no sense.
The German federal government is currently examining whether there have been similar incidents in this country.
Do you think it is possible that China is also sending spy balloons over Germany?
Yes.
China will probably also fly over Europe.
Beijing is spying everywhere and trying out what is technically possible and how far you can go before being stopped.
You can see that in the Chinese police stations in the back rooms of some Chinese institutions in Germany and elsewhere.
Since the sovereign rights of Germany are clearly violated.
The federal government must say very clearly that this is not possible, that red lines are being crossed.
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Some observers are currently reminded of an incident from 2001.
At that time, a US spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet near the Chinese island of Hainan, killing the Chinese jet pilot.
That was long ago.
China was neither an economic superpower nor a major military power at the time.
Today, China is the second largest player in the world, whether in business, technology or the military.
The Chinese Navy is numerically the largest in the world.
We are dealing with completely different power structures than back then.
But it still worries the Chinese that US ships and reconnaissance planes operated so close to the Chinese coast then and still do today.
Conversely, it would be simply inconceivable that China would send spy planes or ships to Hawaii or off the coast of California.
"In the Ukraine war we see that China's offers of mediation are just hot air"
After the meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden at the G20 summit in Bali in November, it appeared that relations between China and the US were easing a little.
Has that all been undone now?
The summit in Bali was little more than a glimmer of hope on the far horizon.
Some still hope that China could position itself as a responsible player in world politics.
But in the Ukraine war we see that China's offers of mediation are just hot air.
While Beijing is calling for a peaceful solution, it is doing nothing to make it happen.
Although the war is also damaging China, especially economically.
At the same time, Beijing is always spreading the same propaganda messages that large parts of the population fall for: that the West instigated the war.
There are voices in the EU that say this crisis has come at the worst possible time.
Because the US could now be distracted for weeks, but at the same time it is expected that Russia could soon launch a major offensive in Ukraine.
The question has been lingering for a long time as to whether the USA can still control “two theater warfare”, i.e. whether they can fight on two fronts.
This capability was considered too expensive by the United States and was reduced.
But no, this balloon affair won't distract the US for too long.
That will soon be over, and then the war in Ukraine will be the focus of US politics again.
Rubric list image: © Joe Granita/IMAGO
