U.S Shoots Down Chinese Air Balloon

Occurrence of event -February 4, 2023

After flying over vital military sites in North America, the alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the U.S. military with their cutting-edge F22 raptor off the coast of Carolina. China said there had been an accident involving a civilian aircraft during the flyby and threatened consequences. Although U.S president Joe Biden, wanted the balloon brought down even earlier, on Wednesday, he issued the order. According to U.S. officials, he was told that the operation would be best performed over water. Military experts concluded that dropping it down over land from a height of 60,000 feet would put people on the ground in unnecessary danger.

The relevant company's legal rights and interests will be steadfastly upheld by China, according to a statement released by the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday. But, China also reserved the right to take additional remedial measures. Later that day, the Chinese Ministry of Defense reaffirmed the assertion, adding it "reserves the right to take necessary actions to cope with comparable scenarios." The balloon's appearance this week in the sky over the United States dealt a serious blow to already tense and deteriorating U.S.-Chinese ties that have been going downhill for years. It led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to unexpectedly postpone a crucial trip to China intended to defuse tensions.

Prior to the event, Chinese authorities and experts have emphasized the military benefits of balloons, including their capacity to identify and map out adversarial air defense systems and improve China's own air defense capabilities. The Financial Times called China's deployment of a high-altitude balloon to test hypersonic missiles in 2018 "the most shocking evidence of China's military use of stratospheric balloons." The manufacturer of the 2023 balloon is thought to be a non-military Chinese defense business.

After stepping off Air Force One and making his way to Camp David, Biden remarked, "They successfully took it down and I want to salute our aviators who executed it."

The enormous white object was seen Saturday morning as it moved toward the Atlantic coast over the Carolinas. Senior defense officials reported that the balloon was punctured by a missile launched by an F-22 fighter jet at 2:39 EST while it was about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The 2023 balloon incident happened when strategic competition in the military and economy was rising and U.S.-China relations were at their lowest point in decades as a result of suspected Chinese espionage[b]. With the stated intention of preventing any Chinese military buildup, the United States and some of its allies put strict export limits on "foundational technologies" (including cutting-edge semiconductor chips) to China in 2022. Also, it has attempted to keep crucial supply lines apart from China. So now, what does this mean for China and the US? Conflict between the two may not be as surprising regarding recent incidents with the two countries, and is possible and could be a potential threat in the future.

Work cited

Zeke Miller, Michael Balsamo. “Us Downs Chinese Balloon, Drawing a Threat from China.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 5 Feb. 2023, https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-china-antony-blinken-51e49202f2a0a50541cde059934c4cfb.

“2023 Chinese Balloon Incident.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Feb. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident.

Cooper, Helene, and Edward Wong. “Downing of Chinese Spy Balloon Ends Chapter in a Diplomatic Crisis.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Feb. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/us/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down.html.

Cohen, Zachary, et al. “US Fighter Jets Shoot down Chinese Spy Balloon off East Coast.” CNN, Cable News Network, 5 Feb. 2023, https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/04/politics/china-spy-balloon-us-latest/index.html.