Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
News on U.S., CCP
News (1)
The "Balloon Gate" ferments, Biden is under great pressure, and the CCP will not end tensions
Reporters : Ruili, Luo Ya / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2023/02/07/a103643890.html / Image : Video Screenshot
Although the CCP’s spy balloon has been shot down by the United States, the turmoil is far from over. As U.S.-CCP China relations become increasingly tense, the outside world is paying more attention to the CCP’s true intentions in this incident.
Regarding the shooting down of the CCP spy balloon by the U.S. military, the CCP Foreign Ministry issued a statement on 6 February 2023 saying that the U.S. was "indiscriminately using force" and "overreacting", and in turn accused the U.S. of violating "international conventions."
From the United States announcing the discovery of the spy balloon to the shooting down of the balloon, the CCP’s rhetoric has changed many times. First, it condemned the slander from the United States, saying that the spy balloon was a farce “written and directed” by the United States; A "civilian" balloon was strayed into the United States due to "force majeure"; after the US shot down the balloon, it became furious and threatened that it might take retaliation.
Yu Maochun, former chief adviser on China policy of the U.S. State Department: "CCP is being caught by the U.S. now, and the lies he told himself cannot be corrected. Under the control of a country like China, issues like this involving the airspace of a major country, It cannot be run by the people."
As the topic of spy balloons continues to heat up, the CCP has implemented unified control over all major official Weibo accounts.
As of late night on 5 February, Weibo accounts such as those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China and CCTV published articles on the same day criticizing the U.S. for insisting on using force and seriously violating international conventions. In the discussion areas of these articles, almost all negative comments have disappeared.
On 3 February, the United States announced the discovery of a second "spy balloon." But three days later, Mao Ning, the spokesperson of the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign ministry, admitted that the balloon floating over Latin America also belonged to China.
A few days ago, a U.S. official said that there may be a third balloon operating near the United States but the specific location has not been disclosed yet.
As more and more spy balloons are discovered, it becomes more and more difficult for the CCP to end tensions peacefully, and the pressure on the Biden administration is also increasing.
The United States’ cancellation of the Secretary of State’s visit to CCP China is only the first step. Whether it will introduce sanctions against the CCP in the future is also the focus of attention from the outside world.
However, some experts believe that the CCP deliberately put spy balloons in the United States, which is full of provocative meaning, and perhaps its original intention is to provoke war.
Zhang Jiadun, a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, an American think tank: "It is difficult for us to judge China's intention, but we can see what they are doing. They are preparing for war."
News (2)
The wreckage of the spy balloon has been sent to the laboratory, the White House: It will not be sent back to Beijing
Reporter : Jin Shi / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2023/02/07/a103643887.html
The CCP spy balloon incident continues to ferment. Currently, the United States is conducting analysis and research on the remains of the balloon. At the same time, the U.S. government and opposition have called on President Biden to adopt a tougher policy against the CCP.
The U.S. media disclosed on Monday (6 February 2023) that the wreckage of the CCP spy balloon that has been salvaged is being transported to an FBI laboratory in Virginia.
In the coming days, researchers will analyze the remains of the balloon.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby: "We will have more information as we study."
The White House made clear on Monday that the balloon debris would not be sent back to Beijing.
The CCP spy balloon was shot down over South Carolina on Saturday (4 February). Currently, more scattered balloon fragments are still being discovered.
U.S. Republican Congressman Mike Turner: "Obviously this is China (the Communist Party) collecting information in an attempt to defeat our missile defense system and nuclear weapons base."
The spy balloon is reported to be equipped with sensors and monitoring equipment, and the relevant research results will be reported to leaders of both parties in Congress and members of the intelligence committee.
At the same time, Republicans have also called for further review of the decision-making process of the Biden-Harris administration to shoot down the balloon. They believe that the Chinese spy balloon should have been shot down earlier.
US Republican Senator Ted Cruz: "He (Biden) allowed the Chinese Communist Party to carry out espionage missions over our skies for a full week, including over sensitive military installations."
At the same time, Biden is also facing greater pressure from the government and the opposition to adopt a more stringent strategy against the CCP.
Mike Quigley, a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence: "We seem to be in a kind of cold war with China, and their military provocations, their surveillance is worrying."
How the Sino-US diplomatic crisis triggered by the balloon incident will ferment has aroused great concern from the outside world.
News (3) to (7) / Editor : Lin Qing / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2023/02/06/a103643760.html
News (3)
Facing Beijing's statement, the CCP's documents show that it is deeply interested in the military use of balloons
Image : On 4 February 2023, the CCP spy balloon flying over the United States was shot down by the US military. (Internet video screenshot)
The CCP’s reconnaissance balloon invaded the airspace of the United States, triggering a new round of disputes between China and the United States. The explanation of the "civilian nature" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China has been repeatedly slapped in the face. Documents show that China is deeply interested in the military use of high-altitude balloon technology.
According to a Reuters report, although the CCP Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly described the balloon that floated over the United States as a "civil scientific research unmanned airship" that entered the United States "due to force majeure", Chinese military researchers have argued in several papers published recently that this vehicle should be further developed and deployed in specific missions.
News (4)
People's Liberation Army: The military uses of balloons is to test enemy air defense
According to reports, researchers from the CCP military People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s "special aircraft" institute published a paper in April 2022, pointing out that one of the military uses of balloons is to test enemy air defense.
"(Balloons can) induce the enemy to activate the air defense system, provide conditions for the implementation of electronic reconnaissance, and evaluate the early warning detection and combat response capabilities of the air defense system," the paper reads.
This paper and several articles in other military-controlled publications also show that the PLA establishment is very interested in studying how to use balloons at the military level, and the PLA clearly intends to do research in this area.
The above-mentioned papers were published in the "Ship Electronic Countermeasures" journal, a publication of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. The topics of the published articles include signal jamming and electronic warfare.
The paper stated: “In order to shorten the gap between our country and foreign countries in air balloons and prevent China from being attacked by such weapons, we should actively carry out research on related operational issues to strengthen our military’s offensive combat capabilities.”
News (5)
Spy balloons act as ultra-low orbit satellites
In response to the CCP’s claim that the balloons are for “civilian” use, some netizens previously cited an article titled “Military Balloons: Floating in the Cracks of the Battlefield” published by the CCP Military Daily on 11 February 2022, to slap the CCP in the face.
The content mentions that high-altitude balloons can carry solar cells and related reconnaissance, surveillance, and communication equipment, and stay tens of thousands of metres high for a long time, acting as an "ultra-low orbit satellite". In other words, even the so-called "civilian scientific research" balloons can have reconnaissance functions after carrying relevant equipment.
News (6)
Spy balloons appeared in Taiwan and Zhuhai Air Show
In addition, on 28 February 2022, "Observer Network" published an article on the report of the discovery of the Communist Army's military balloons over Taiwan, admitting that "the military balloons are not just non-existent." At the Zhuhai Air Show in 2021, China Aviation Industry, China Electronics Technology, and Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation have displayed a variety of high-altitude tethered balloons that can be equipped with radar photoelectric detection equipment.
News (7)
Miles Yu: China's lies cannot be corrected and CCP has lost credibility to become a world leader
Former U.S. State Department Chief Advisor on China Policy Miles Yu said in an interview with The Epoch Times on 5 February, "China is now caught by the U.S., and the lies it tells cannot be corrected. In China, a country that controls under such circumstances, such an issue involving the airspace of a major country cannot be run by the private sector (the company’s balloons).”
"So the CCP dare not say which private company it is? What is its purpose? Where is its headquarters? Who operates it? What is the purpose of its operation? The CCP itself is not clear."
Yu Maochun said, "At the beginning, the senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party said that this was fabricated by the United States out of thin air. .”
He said, "The CCP has no face or the guts. It is a government that lies and has no credibility. That is why it is very difficult for a government that has lost credibility to become a world leader."
News (8) to (13) / Reporter : Li Li / Editor : Xu Gengwen / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2023/02/06/a103643761.html
News (8)
The CCP’s missile shot down the balloon four years ago, and two sets of standards were beaten in the face
Image : On 2 February, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that it was monitoring Chinese spy balloons over Montana. (Cartooned by The Epoch Times)
Recently, a CCP balloon flew over the United States and was shot down by the United States, triggering protests from the CCP. The CCP Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement declaring that the U.S. had “obviously overreacted” but a video in 2019 showed that the Chinese Communist Army also used missiles to shoot down air balloons.
On 6 February, in response to the shooting down of the balloon by the United States, the Vice Foreign Minister of the Communist Party of China was "ordered to represent the Chinese government" on Sunday to make solemn representations to the head of the U.S. embassy in China. Earlier, the CCP Foreign Ministry issued a statement claiming that the U.S. "insistently used force and clearly overreacted" and Beijing will reserve the right to make further necessary responses.
However, recently, some netizens searched for a video from 2019 on a website in mainland China. This video is to promote that the Chinese Communist Air Force dispatched a fighter plane to shoot down a white flying object in the sky. Regarding the U.S.’s shooting down of the CCP’s spy balloon, the CCP clearly has a double standard.
News (9)
PLA pilot shot down a powered white balloon in 2019
Images : Web Screenshots
On 6 September 2019, in the report "The Deeds of Wu Hui, a certain air force pilot", there was a picture of a "J-10C" fighter jet shooting down a balloon in the air.
According to the report, Wu Hui, a pilot of the Air Force of the Southern Theater Command, drove the "J-10C" fighter jet to the designated airspace and found a white spherical floating object a few kilometers above the fighter plane. After further observation, it was determined that it was a "powered unmanned balloon". The higher-level command organization judged that it was very likely to be a super high-altitude reconnaissance balloon, which would threaten air defense security. The left wing of the fighter plane fired a missile, which hit the target in 3 seconds, and the white balloon exploded instantly.
Epoch Times columnist Wang He told NTD reporters that two points can be seen from the above-mentioned September 2019 video: First, the Chinese military has simply and quickly concluded that the super high-altitude reconnaissance balloon of unknown origin may threaten air defense safety and thus order the shoot down. It shows that the CCP military has a very strong concept of "enemy situation" and is used to solving problems by force. From this point of view, it can be described as militaristic. The CCP’s clamour for the U.S. defense is obviously playing double standards.
Not only that, relatively speaking, the U.S. has a long decision-making process, many parties involved, many factors to consider, and a weak tendency to use force, reflecting the characteristics of democratic politics.
News (10)
Who is violating international law cannot be easily determined
The Pentagon said the balloons were used to "gather intelligence." CCP balloons violated U.S. airspace and violated international law.
According to a BBC report, Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, wrote an article on the knowledge-sharing website "The Dialogue" that the CCP balloon flight over the United States "tested the boundaries of international law."
Professor Rothwell said that international law has clear (regulations) on the use of balloons in the airspace of other countries. Every country has complete sovereignty and control over waters extending 12 nautical miles (about 22 km) from its territorial land.
According to international conventions, each country has "complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace over its territory". This means that each country has control over access to its airspace, including commercial and government aircraft.
News (11)
Upper limit of airspace sovereignty is not determined in international law
However, the upper limit of airspace sovereignty is not determined in international law. In practice, it usually extends to the highest altitude commercial and military aircraft operate, which is about 45,000 feet (about 13,700 meters). However, the supersonic Concorde flies at 60,000 feet (over 18,000 meters). CCP balloons have also reportedly drifted at altitudes of 60,000 feet.
International law on airspace does not cover the airspace in which satellites operate, which has traditionally been considered to fall within the scope of space law.
News (12)
ICAO has rules for the entry of hot air balloons into foreign airspace but it does not regulate military activity
Professor Rothwell said that there are also some international legal frameworks that allow other countries to seek permission to enter another country's airspace, such as the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. The International Civil Aviation Organization has additional rules for the entry of aircraft, including hot air balloons, into foreign airspace, but it does not regulate military activity.
News (13)
CCP did not seek permission to fly over the U.S.'s "Air Defense Identification Zone"
In addition, the United States has its own "Air Defense Identification Zone", which requires all aircraft entering U.S. airspace to identify themselves.
Professor Rothwell believes that given these clear international rules, the U.S. response to CCP balloons has a solid legal basis. Flying over U.S. airspace can only be done with U.S. permission, which CCP apparently did not seek.
News (14) to (15) / Reporters : Chen Ting, Andrew Thornebrooke / Editor : Ye Ziwei / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/2/7/n13924295.htm
News (14)
U.S. military: There is a gap in domain awareness, and the previous spy balloon was not detected
Image : Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing March 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
A senior US military general said that due to the "gap" in the ability of the Department of Defense to track certain aerial objects, the military did not detect the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) balloons and the invasion of U.S. airspace by spy balloons during the Trump administration.
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) commander Gen. Glen VanHerck (NORAD) said that during the Trump administration, at least three intrusions of Chinese spy balloons went undetected and therefore were not reported to senior Trump administration officials.
"I'm going to tell you that we don't see these threats, it's a domain awareness gap." VanHerck said at a Pentagon news conference on Monday (6 February 2023).
He added that the U.S. intelligence community later identified the intrusion of the spy balloons through "other means of collection" but Van Heek gave no further details, suggesting knowledge of the flights could have been through cyberespionage, phone interception or tipsters.
The appearance of a CCP spy balloon over North America last week caused an uproar, raising concerns about the U.S. military and political readiness and ability to respond to possible violations of sovereignty.
NORAD, jointly operated by the U.S. and Canada, first spotted the spy balloon on 28 January 2023 over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, Van Heek said. However, President Biden said he was not briefed on the matter until 1 February.
The balloon was allowed to continue flying in U.S. airspace until it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on 4 February.
News (15)
A "unique opportunity" to deploy American counterintelligence capabilities on spy balloons
VanHerck said the U.S. military and intelligence agencies took "maximum precautions" to prevent the spy balloon from gathering any intelligence and worked hard to gather information about the device.
He said the incident presented a "unique opportunity" for the United States to deploy counterintelligence capabilities on the spy balloons, but declined to say which capabilities were used to detect the balloons.
While waiting to shoot it down, the U.S. gathered a lot of intelligence from the balloon and learned how it worked, making the wait "well worth it," VanHerck said.
Earlier Monday, at an event hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC), White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. had "increased" its surveillance capabilities since Biden took office, allowing it to "see the things" that the Trump administration "can't discover".
Sullivan said this allows "we can look back at historical patterns" and find "multiple instances" of CCP balloons crossing U.S. airspace during the Trump administration.
Over the weekend, President Trump and several top U.S. officials during his administration said they were never briefed about CCP balloons entering U.S. airspace.
The existence of what the U.S. calls a “detection gap” for CCP China’s balloon technology is important because such equipment is increasingly used for surveillance and even as a weapon of war.
In the past, China has tested the use of high-altitude balloons to drop hypersonic missiles, and the United States has studied using the technology to deploy swarms of drones loaded with explosives.
News (16) to (20) / Reporter : Xia Yu / Editor : Ye Ziwei / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/2/6/n13924177.htm
News (16)
Analysis: Why China's spy balloons caused an uproar
Image : On 4 February 2023, the US military shot down the CCP spy balloon. (Haley WALSH / AFP)
The CCP’s spy balloon caused an uproar. For the first time, Americans really experienced the national security challenge from the CCP. Embarrassed, Xi Jinping is under pressure. According to analysis, this unexpected "Balloon Gate" may become a watershed in the new cold war between the two superpowers in the world.
After the CCP spy balloon incident was exposed, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken postponed his planned trip to Beijing last weekend, which not only frustrated the CCP’s hope of repairing U.S.-China relations, but also embarrassed the CCP domestically. In the United States, both parties have unanimously condemned the CCP’s move, and the American people are also worried about the CCP’s threat. There has also been a multi-day war of words between the US and CCP China over claims that the balloons are military/civilian.
The U.S. military shot down the balloon on Saturday. On Monday (February 6), the political and diplomatic influence of the "Balloon Gate" on Beijing and Washington was still intensifying. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby revealed that the CCP’s balloons have propellers, so they can steer themselves, further debunking the CCP’s weather balloon claims.
CCP Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning once again argued at a press conference on Monday that it was a weather balloon, and that the U.S. shooting down the balloon was a violation of China's sovereignty. The decision to shoot down the balloon was "unacceptable and irresponsible".
News (17)
For the first time, the American public witnessed the threat of the Chinese Communist Party
The craft, described by U.S. intelligence agencies as surveillance balloons, present a relatively low-tech, modest security threat compared with the daily escalating multi-layered espionage, economic, cyber, military and geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and China but as the balloon floated across the U.S. skies before it was shot down from South Carolina last Saturday, the very presence of the balloon revealed a message that the idea of CCP as a threat to the U.S. mainland was neither remote, theoretical nor invisible. Yes, it is not something that will happen in the next few years, but something that is actually happening around everyone.
CNN reported that the balloon cannot simply be ignored -- especially as Blinken's upcoming trip to Beijing was quickly cancelled as the balloon sparked a political storm. While Beijing initially expressed rare regret over what it claimed was a so-called weather-watching blimp intrusion into U.S. airspace, U.S. China hawks see the incident as the latest example of China's brazen willingness to flex its hegemony overseas and trample on established rules between nations, and cited the balloons as more evidence that this is an aggressive attempt by the CCP to expand its influence and intelligence operations around the world, targeting businesses, universities, and Chinese-Americans as well as traditional intelligence targets such as military bases.
News (18)
Bipartisan consensus that balloons are a flagrant violation of U.S. airspace
The balloon's days-long journey from Montana to the Eastern Seaboard has drawn intense media coverage and attention from the government and Congress.
"We shouldn't let the People's Republic of China mock our airspace," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement on Sunday.
"The United States has made it clear that this is an unacceptable violation of American sovereignty," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida cast the event as a blatant challenge to American power and suggested that President Biden's response was too soft, raising questions about whether he would fend off his doubts of more serious Chinese threats (such as Taiwan's).
He also said that it was no accident that the CCP allowed the balloon incident to happen before Blinken's visit to Beijing, "They always do things like this to humiliate their opponents."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement on Saturday, "I strongly condemn President Xi Jinping of China's blatant trespass into U.S. airspace, and President Biden's leadership in shooting down balloons over water to ensure that all U.S. people are safe, and I applaud that."
News (19)
Balloon incident embarrasses Xi Jinping
The balloons are a new source of embarrassment for Xi Jinping, whose third-term consolidation of power has been overshadowed by poor efforts to deal with the covid pandemic, unprecedented anti-zero-covid protests and now a major crisis with the United States, CNN reported.
Washington State Rep. Adam Smith, a senior Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said in an interview with Fox News on Saturday that the presence of CCP spy balloons in the U.S. is "embarrassing" for Beijing.
"I think it's an embarrassment for Beijing," Smith said, adding that balloons are not particularly effective espionage tools, the technology the United States is familiar with, and that balloons cannot pick up things that satellites cannot.
"If your espionage operations are exposed all over the world, it's not a good thing. So no matter how you look at this incident, it is not positive for China (the CCP)." Smith said.
News (20)
The balloon crisis could exacerbate already tense tensions in Asia
The apparent audacity of the balloon flight has drawn the ire of Washington despite China's deployment of dozens of spy satellites targeting the United States, CNN reported. That, in turn, could unleash political, military and diplomatic power in both countries that, while manageable in the short term, also demonstrates how difficult it is to prevent this growing rivalry from reaching its boiling point.
The political storm unleashed by the balloon could complicate efforts to avoid a dangerous downturn in U.S.-China relations.
Another complicating factor is the possibility of another visit to Taiwan by House Speaker McCarthy, following last year's trip by Democratic predecessor Nancy Pelosi. After Pelosi visited Taiwan last time, the CCP launched a large-scale naval exercise in the Taiwan Strait. The CCP has already warned McCarthy about his potential visit to Taiwan, and once again raised the "one-China principle" that is not recognized by the United States; McCarthy responded that he does not think the CCP can influence where he goes.
The balloon incident has strained already fragile U.S.-China relations, which have been weakened in recent years by Beijing's territorial expansion in the South China Sea and its aggressive control over Taiwan. The U.S. military said on 29 December 2022 that a Chinese warplane came within 10 feet (3 m) of a U.S. Air Force aircraft last week over the disputed South China Sea, forcing the U.S. aircraft to take evasive action to avoid collisions in international airspace.
Another risk, according to CNN, is that the balloon crisis could exacerbate already tense tensions in the region, which have seen repeated confrontations between U.S. and CCP forces in the South China Sea and areas around Taiwan in recent times.
CNBC’s financial website reported on 6 February that Gabriel Wildau, managing director of consulting firm Teneo, said in a report that the nascent thaw in U.S.-China relations is now in a critical state. Even if the relationship is not fully resolved, by entering a deadlock, any future détente is equally vulnerable to domestic politics.
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