It is not clear when this ridiculous “balloon incident,” which was initially “pooh-poohed” even by the Pentagon, was devised as a tool to discredit China internationally, but the steamroller at State has been set into motion, making the “ballooning” a matter of international security. Over the last day or so, U.S. authorities in Washington and Beijing have held briefings with 40 diplomats on the matter, warning of balloons flying over five continents. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who was speaking on February 8 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the “ballooning” a centerpiece of her warnings about China.
Secretary of State Blinken, who had canceled his still unscheduled meetings in Beijing on Wednesday, claimed that the U.S. assesses the alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down over the weekend to have been part of an expansive surveillance program aimed at gathering intelligence from targets around the globe. The House also voted unanimously 419-0 Thursday to formally condemn China for its use of a surveillance balloon over the U.S. NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg likewise jumped on the issue, perhaps seeing it as an ideal opportunity to push NATO expansion to the Asia-Pacific.
