Snooping accusation against Beijing
US government: Chinese spy balloons are said to have targeted 40 countries
US soldiers pull the spy balloon out of the Atlantic off the coast of North Carolina
© Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Th/US Navy / AFP
US President Joe Biden speaks on television about the downing of the Chinese spy balloon and incidentally kicks President Xi Jinping in the shin. There are also new details on how the balloon is equipped.
China has drawn the ire of Americans by sending out a large observation balloon. The US government is now following up on the allegations of espionage against Beijing and is providing new details. Meanwhile, the Chinese are tightening their choice of words.
China reacts coldly to Joe Biden
The discovery and launch of the Chinese spy balloon over the United States is causing increasing tension. While US President Joe Biden justifies the use against the balloon in several TV interviews and incidentally nips the government in Beijing in the shin, the Chinese foreign ministry reacts with increasing coldness: They are “very dissatisfied, because this type of rhetoric from the USA is extreme irresponsible and contrary to basic diplomatic etiquette,” said a ministry spokeswoman.
Biden had said on Telemundo that flying a spy balloon in US airspace violated international law. The incident does not represent a major security breach, but it is “our airspace” and once it “reached it, we could do whatever we wanted with it”. On the US broadcaster PBS, when asked whether relations between the US and China had suffered a serious blow from the shooting down, he answered with a clear “no”. He can say this with certainty because the two countries are in exchange with each other.
Biden: “Xi has problems”
Biden was also able to refrain from making a point at the ruler in Beijing: Xi has “enormous problems”, according to the US President, including “an economy that is not working very well”. “Can you think of any other leader who would swap places with Xi Jinping? I can’t think of any,” Biden continued. Xi’s unenviable position would fuel new tensions between China and the US.
The Beijing Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said: “I think this is part of the information war that the US is waging against China.” The international community knows exactly who is really “the number one among the espionage and surveillance empires”. At the same time, she repeated the statement that it was a civilian airship that accidentally entered US space due to force majeure. “Although we have made this clear repeatedly, the US used force to shoot it down, which is irresponsible.”
Chinese balloons over all continents
In view of the dispute, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a trip to Beijing at short notice. Blinken recently said that the downed Chinese balloon was part of an extensive surveillance program. “The United States was not the only target of this broad program that violated the sovereignty of countries on five continents.”
The US State Department added numerous details to invalidate the account from Beijing: The Chinese balloon that was shot down had “several antennas” and was probably able to “collect and localize communications”. The US used US U2 reconnaissance aircraft to take high-resolution images to determine the balloon’s capabilities. Its equipment does not match that of weather balloons. In addition, the balloon was equipped with solar panels large enough to operate sensors intended for espionage.
“We know that these balloons are all part of a fleet of PRC balloons that have been developed for surveillance purposes,” the US State Department official said. These types of activities are often carried out on orders from the Chinese military. “We are sure that the balloon manufacturer has a direct relationship with the Chinese military,” he said.
According to the US government, the fleet of spy balloons targeted more than 40 countries. The US government is contacting states directly to update them on the scope of China’s surveillance program. “We know that China used these balloons for surveillance.”
NATO urges caution
NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg warned of dangers for Europe as well. The balloon confirms a “pattern” according to which China has “invested heavily in new military capabilities” in recent years, Stoltenberg said at a meeting with US Secretary of State Blinken in Washington. “We have also seen increased Chinese intelligence activity in Europe,” Stoltenberg said. “They’re using satellites, they’re using cyber, and as we’ve seen over the US, balloons too, so we have to be careful.”
Amid heightened fears of Chinese espionage in the airspace, Japan has now announced it is investigating unidentified objects sighted over the country in recent years. “We communicate with the United States,” said a government spokesman. “Nevertheless, we are investigating objects sighted over Japan in June 2020 and September 2021, including possible links to the case in the United States.”
However, the US government emphasized that it was interested in open channels of communication with Beijing and that Blinken’s visit to Beijing should be rescheduled as soon as conditions allow. However, Beijing confirmed that it declined to call the US Secretary of Defense after the balloon was launched. “The US’s irresponsible and seriously erroneous approach has not created a suitable atmosphere for dialogue and exchanges between the two armies,” the Chinese Defense Ministry said.