On February 12, local time, the U.S. military dispatched fighter jets to shoot down an unidentified flying object over Lake Huron in Michigan, near the Canadian border.
Prior to this, on February 4, the U.S. military dispatched F-22 fighter jets to shoot down a Chinese balloon, and on February 10, U.S. fighter jets shot down another unidentified flying object near the northern coast of Alaska.
On February 11, an F-22 fighter jet of the US military used a "Sidewinder" missile to shoot down a sounding balloon of unknown origin over the Yukon Territory of Canada.
Why does the US military frequently shoot down UFOs?
In the view of analysts, on the one hand, this shows the determination to defend national security, on the other hand, it shows that it is not aimed at China, regardless of where the flying objects come from, and the shooting down attitude is treated equally.
Suggesting that the shooting down of the Chinese balloon on February 4 was not an overreaction, but a normal response.
According to various media reports, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a follow-up shooting order "out of caution" on the advice of military leaders. The White House National Security Council spokesperson also pointed out on February 12: "These two objects are not very similar to Chinese balloons, nor are they much smaller. We will not definitively classify them until we have retrieved the fragments of the objects."
China-U.S. Balloon Incident: The U.S. claims that on February 1, 2023, an object suspected of being a Chinese "spy balloon" flew over Billings, Montana, USA.
Later, China responded that the balloon marked with a white circle was a civil sounding balloon, which drifted into the United States due to force majeure.
(Reuters)
This shows that the military's actions are closely related to Biden's instructions, and the subsequent shooting down was a joint political performance by the White House and the Pentagon.
It is not only for China to see, but also for the world to see.
After the United States shot down a Chinese balloon, the Chinese military was so indignant that it rejected a request from the Pentagon for a phone call from the defense ministers of the two countries.
Simply shooting down the Chinese balloon will of course make China feel angry, and let the world see the irrational side of the United States deliberately provoking a conflict between China and the United States.
The follow-up indiscriminate shooting down action scattered China's sense of being targeted, clarified the suspicion of targeting China, and let the world see that the US military will not provoke a Sino-US conflict without a reason.
The U.S. military did not clarify which country the UFO that was subsequently shot down belonged to, but it clearly pointed out that it was worried that it might cause harm to civil aviation.
From this perspective, the follow-up shooting down show is to reshape the responsible image.
These are in fact the steps towards the end of this Sino-US crisis.
With the follow-up shooting down performance, the United States hopes to show that it shot down the Chinese balloon rather than targeting China, but this is just wishful thinking of the United States.
The Chinese side is very clear that the shooting down of the Chinese balloon is the result of the Biden administration's deliberate political use of this.
It is unclear whether Beijing will respond in a follow-up manner.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: U.S. high-altitude balloons have illegally flown over China’s airspace over 10 UFOs since last year｜British media: Continental Army’s balloons frequently invade Taiwan’s airspace and UFOs are shot down on average once a month U.S. White House: “Not very similar” to Chinese balloons