Table of Contents
- Winds Altered the Trajectory
- Background of Chinese Spy Balloon
- Things detained
- Impact on Sino-U.S. Relations
- Similar Activities by Beijing in the Past
Winds Altered the Trajectory
The Chinese spy balloon, as considered by U.S. officials, was actually aimed at the U.S. military bases in Hawaii and Guam. It was due to the winds that the balloon was carried off course to Canada, Alaska and other parts of the U.S aerospace. U.S. officials are still suspicious about the true intent of the Chinese balloon. Despite the clarification about this incident by Chinese officials that claimed the balloon to be a civilian meteorological machine, many U.S. officials have a finger of suspicion towards the Chinese government and are emphasizing on the fact that despite ascertaining the off-course trajectory of balloon, nothing was done.
Background of Chinese Spy Balloon
On the afternoon of February 4, a Chinese balloon suspected to be used for surveillance was shot down by a U.S. fighter jet off the coast of Surfside Beach, South Caroline after a week of sustenance over the US and Canada. The F-22 fighter jet utilized a single AIM-9X missile to shoot down the balloon six nautical miles off. The initial presence of the balloon was recorded on January 28 in U.S, three days ago when it entered the airspace of Canada. On January 31, it was again espied in the U.S. airspace. Despite all allegations emphasizing the balloon to be a spy vessel sent by the Chinese government, Beijing has denied all accusations.
Things Detained
According to the Northern Command of the U.S. military, some critical electronics have been recovered from the site. These critical entities include priority sensors which are primarily used in processes surveillance or obtaining intelligence. The antennas were equipped to enable the spy balloon to transfer the encrypted signals of gathered electronic communications to the Chinese satellites.
Impact on Sino-U.S. Relations
Prior to the shootdown, the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency of the U.S. government for transportation, was ordered to temporarily discontinue all flights from three airports in South Caroline including Myrtle Beach, Wilmington, and Charleston. The flights ,which were resumed later, were temporarily blocked to around 100 square miles and this was done to clear the airspace around the site where the Chinese balloon was detected. Amid rising tension between Washington and Beijing, America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, postponed a trip to China. Err on the side of caution, the U.S. military is raking the skies for any other anonymous objects that were not detained by the radar. This resulted in three shootdowns in a single week. These shootdowns over the Alaska coast and Yukon territory in Canada, following the downed Chinese balloon, were marked more difficult due to the paucity of traditional radar signatures of such objects and their tiny size. While the U.S. officials have repudiated the interlinking of these incidents, assuming the latter  three shootdown entities to be designed for research in weather and science, Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, claimed in a news conference in Yukon’s capital, Whitehorse, that these shootdowns share some sort of patterns and thus are connected in some ways.
Similar Activities by Beijing in the Past
The U.S. officials disclosed a suspecte program run by China to obtain data related to the military and other crucial aspects of other countries, endangering the sovereignty. According to the claims by Biden’s administration, dozens of ‘surveillance balloons’ have made their presence in over 40 countries in five continents since 2018. Another finding points to the existence of multiple companies that officially sell these balloons to the Chinese military. According to the assumptions by U.S. officials and analysts, through this program, the Chinese government may want to empower its satellite intelligence by collecting crucial knowledge for satellite backup for war-like situations with the U.S. These events have eventually added more to deteriorate and affect the Sino-U.S. relations.
