Monitoring Desk
MUNICH: The rift between China and the US over the balloon saga has also divided the global community scrutinising their high-stakes dispute.
The latest testy exchange took place on Saturday, when China’s foreign affairs minister Wang Yi met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, in the first high-level meeting since the spat began.
Blinken said they would not “stand for any violation of our sovereignty” and said “this irresponsible act must never again occur”. Wang, meanwhile, called the episode a “political farce manufactured by the US” and accused them of “using all means to block and suppress China”.
Balloon Saga
China continues denying that they sent a spy balloon, even as the United States continues to disclose more details of the object to back up their allegation. But beyond the dispute, the way both Washington and Beijing have responded to each other has come under tight scrutiny as the world grapples with the incident’s implications for geopolitical stability and national security.
According to the observers, the net result is that it has hardened stances – deepening distrust among those wary of the US or China – and made it significantly harder for Beijing and Washington to bridge the gap between them.
For some, the incident has heightened tensions over the reach of Chinese espionage, as governments scramble to reevaluate what they know about China’s surveillance capabilities. The United States claims Chinese military balloons have entered the airspace of more than 40 countries across five continents.
This week Japan – a key US ally – announced that after they re-evaluated the past cases of unidentified flying objects, they “strongly suspect” that Beijing had flown at least three spy balloons across the US territory since 2019.
A Financial Times report quoted unnamed officials of Taiwan – another US ally – saying the island that is claimed by China, had been spied on by dozens of Chinese military balloons.
Taiwan’s defence ministry later clarified that it had only spotted Chinese weather balloons. On Friday, it found the remnants of one such object and also warned they would not hesitate shooting down any suspected military objects in its airspace.
For those convinced of the United States allegations, the incident has highlighted an underestimation of China’s surveillance capabilities – and the lengths Beijing would go to prove it.
This week, the US officials admitted that three other objects they shot out of the North America sky were not likely foreign spy crafts.
For the Chinese, the shootdown of the objects and Biden’s refusal to apologise has set a precedent, warned Victor Gao, vice-president of Beijing-based think tank Center for China and Globalization. “They would need to be prepared for similar acts of retaliation against similar objects in Chinese space… Don’t complain that China doesn’t apologise, if such an unfortunate incident happens again,” he said.
He said it may even push China to take a stronger position against United States ships and planes in water and airspace which China considers as theirs, such as Taiwan.
However, there are signs of a willingness to engage as Biden said he plans on calling Chinese president Xi Jinping soon to discuss the incident. Both leaders are facing domestic pressure to not be seen as backing down. As the balloon saga continues, the question now is how much political capital both the leaders would be willing to spend to decrease tensions.
