A suspected Chinese “spy balloon,” estimated to be the size of three school buses, was seen flying over the US’ and Canada’s airspace. The balloon not only caused turmoil to the jittery state of US-China relations, but also triggered national security concerns among nations under the “eyes” of the balloon.
The Chinese balloon, fitted with surveillance devices and solar panels, entered US airspace on Jan. 28 over the Aleutian Islands, entered Canadian airspace and then moved southeastward across US airspace, even passing over military facilities such as Malmstrom Air Force Base, which houses ballistic missiles. While China claimed the balloon was a civilian aircraft used for meteorological research that had strayed off course, the US argued that it was part of a broader spy fleet and shot it down. Recovered remains of the balloon would reportedly be taken to an FBI laboratory for analysis.
The balloon incident inevitably increased tensions between the US and China. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a scheduled trip to China, which was considered an ice-breaking journey for resuming talks between the two nations amid growing tensions, competition and confrontation.
He said that “China’s maneuver to fly a surveillance balloon over the continental US is a violation of US sovereignty and international law.”
More balloons have since been spotted in Central and South America. One Pentagon officer said China had used these type of surveillance balloons for years, and the devices had been spotted over five continents, including East Asia, South Asia and Europe.
Sightings of similar surveillance balloons were reported in Japan in 2020 and near India’s Port Blair naval base last year.
In Taiwan, Chinese surveillance balloons have also been spotted from time to time, most recently in 2021 and last year, when balloons were pictured above Taipei and Songshan Airport.
A similar balloon spotted in Japan was found to be for communications purposes and not a balloon that would be used for meteorological research, which are usually smaller — less than 12m — and made of rubber, and would not have been able to fly above the stratosphere for long periods.
A Pentagon report said that US adversaries had used aerial technology to spy on the nation and that some of those incidents involved balloons, while others involved drones.
Although China has said that the US “overreacted” by shooting down the balloon, it has not explained who owns the balloon or the nature of the research being conducted, nor has it provided any details regarding the equipment installed on the balloon.
Today, the sky is brimming with spy satellites used by global powers to monitor each other, but as the Chinese military indicated in a report published by the People’s Liberation Army Daily last year, those much cheaper high-altitude surveillance balloons, which can scan vast areas from closer than satellites and spend more time hovering over an area, could be an excellent auxiliary devices for warfare, not only for surveillance, communications and information collection, but also for delivering munitions.
Military experts said that some civilian balloons might be used by the Chinese military to collect atmospheric data related to artillery, or for missile or rocket launches. Some have suggested that Taiwan should assess the use of balloons, like drones, as part of air attack warning systems or to hinder airborne attacks during an invasion.
The US has taken the first shot by taking down the Chinese balloon assessed to be a threat to national security. For Taiwan, the incident should be “a warning from the sky” to develop more air defense strategies.
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