Terry Su

Opinion | China’s ‘spy balloon’ shows Beijing is in a retaliatory mood amid US aggressiveness

The incident is just one recent example of Beijing testing Washington’s ‘guardrails’, with Xi also reportedly planning a trip to Moscow

After a number of affronts by the US, including a new chip embargo and a deal with the Philippines to access military bases near Taiwan, China is showing it is capable of turning tough

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Terry Su

Published: 3:30am, 8 Feb 2023Updated: 3:45am, 8 Feb 2023

“Derelict Balloon Adrift” was NBC’s title for its “nightly news” report last Friday on the Pentagon’s announcement of an alleged Chinese spy balloon moving over the United States.

As a result of the incident, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called off his much-anticipated trip to China just one day before his scheduled departure, claiming that “the presence of this surveillance balloon in US airspace is a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law ... The decision [by China] to take this action on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”

The drama ended the day after, when the “civilian airship” blown off course by force majeure, as China claimed, was shot down over the Atlantic by the US Air Force, drawing protests from the Chinese side.

As one might expect, ranking politicians such as Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy eagerly took to China bashing and partisanship, with the former accusing the Biden administration of “as usual ... [reacting] at first too indecisively and then too late” and having “let the People’s Republic of China make a mockery of our airspace”, and the latter stating “China’s brazen disregard for US sovereignty is a destabilising action that must be addressed”.

It seems pointless at this juncture to argue about whether we are in Cold War II, as historian Niall Ferguson foretold years ago; some are now even touting another Cuban Missile Crisis. Is it that serious?

Probably not, but the “guardrails” Washington has repeatedly called for in its confrontational relationship with Beijing are being more ominously tested. In fact, they have been for a while, culminating in this “balloon adrift” incident, despite an apparent thaw signalled by the countries’ leaders when they met in Bali last November.