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"By no means a weather balloon": The dispute with China continues to escalate - the USA are now revealing what was in it

2023-02-10T14:51:59.088Z


The signs continue to point to conflict: In the balloon dispute with China, US President Biden is now personally attacking Xi Jinping and accusing Beijing of a “violation of international law”.


The signs continue to point to conflict: In the balloon dispute with China, US President Biden is now personally attacking Xi Jinping and accusing Beijing of a “violation of international law”.

Munich/Washington/Beijing – Mao Ning is annoyed.

For days, Beijing's foreign ministry spokeswoman has had to answer questions from international journalists about the suspected spy balloon that was discovered about a week ago over the United States and finally shot down over the Atlantic.

However, Mao prefers to talk about how her country is helping the earthquake victims in the Turkish-Syrian border area or how important Chinese economic growth is for the global economy than about the helium balloon the size of a skyscraper.

For her, the balloon story is “hype”, the launch an “overreaction”, and she accuses the USA of waging an “information war”.

When the AFP news agency asked Mao on Friday morning what equipment the balloon, which China says is merely a “civilian airship” for weather reconnaissance, had on board, she only replied: “I have no information on that.”

The other side in this drama is much more willing to provide information.

On Thursday, the US State Department said the balloon that was dropped had "multiple antennas" and was believed to be capable of "gathering and locating communications."

The balloon's equipment was "clearly used for intelligence surveillance" and "in no way corresponds to the equipment of weather balloons," it said.

The remains fished out of the sea are currently being examined in an FBI laboratory in Quantico.

China's head of state and party leader: This is how Xi Jinping rose to become the most powerful man in the world

China's head of state and party leader: This is how Xi Jinping rose to become the most powerful man in the world

China's alleged spy balloon: US President Biden attacks Xi Jinping

According to the US State Department, the balloons that were spotted not only over the United States, but also over Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica are not a few isolated strays.

Rather, China is running a spy program in more than 40 countries on five continents, in which such flying objects would be used.

"We know that these balloons are all part of a fleet of PRC balloons designed for surveillance purposes," a senior US State Department official said.

How do you know that and why is this information only now being made public, the man kept to himself.

Just this much: the countries concerned have been informed.

Politically, contradictory signals are currently coming from the USA.

Just a few days ago, it was said that US Secretary of State Blinken's visit to Beijing, which was originally planned for last weekend, had not been canceled but merely postponed.

In addition, the US government has always said that the balloon did not pose a major threat to the country's security.

In the meantime, however, it is difficult to imagine that Blinken's government aircraft will soon take off for Beijing: US President Joe Biden has recently spoken of a "violation of international law" by the Chinese government, after all the balloon entered "our airspace", according to Biden in a television interview on Thursday.

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The remains of the Chinese balloon are being examined at an FBI lab in Quantico.

© FBI/Imago

In another interview, the president even got carried away personally attacking China's head of state and party.

He is in an unenviable position, after all, the Chinese economy is currently weakening.

“Can you think of any other leader who would switch places with Xi Jinping?

I can't think of any," Biden gushed.

Mao Ning then had something to say again: "This type of US rhetoric is extremely irresponsible and contradicts basic diplomatic etiquette," said China's foreign ministry spokeswoman.

Why didn't the US pop the China balloon out of the sky sooner?

Biden's sharp words were probably more intended for the home audience.

Because the US government must increasingly ask itself why it allowed the China balloon to cross the entire United States before finally having the thing shot down over the Atlantic by an F22 fighter jet.

The balloon had apparently already been discovered on January 28th, over the Aleutian Islands, a chain of islands that stretches from Alaska to Russia.

He then set course for the mainland.

The US government justified the shooting down so as not to endanger human lives in the USA.

According to CNN, in a secret hearing of the US Congress, government officials also said they had delayed the launch because they feared military tensions with China or even a military conflict.

The Republicans in particular accuse the Biden government of having acted too hesitantly.

“Almost every decision Biden has ever made on foreign policy has been wrong.

Again and again, ”said Kevin McCarthy, Chairman of the US House of Representatives.

"They should have taken that thing out of the sky sooner."

Incidentally, McCarthy is the Republican politician who will probably be flying to Taiwan in the next few weeks for a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen.

The People's Republic regards the democratically governed country as part of its own national territory and reacts extremely irritably to visits from foreign politicians.

This was last seen when McCarthy's predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, got off the plane in Taipei;

Since then, Beijing has been sending fighter jets to the region almost every day.

It will be interesting to see what Mao Ning has to say when McCarthy lands in Taiwan.

In any case, there is no sign of any relaxation in what is probably the most important bilateral relationship of the moment.

The USA in particular does not seem to have any interest in this.

Rubric list image: © Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/afp

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-02-10

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