The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday threatened to impose “countermeasures” against the United States for shooting down the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the continental U.S. in early February.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin grew a bit flustered in his Wednesday press conference when asked to produce evidence of China’s claims about the balloon, such as that it carried only meteorological equipment and was unexpectedly blown into U.S. airspace in an “unintended, unexpected, and isolated event.”
Wang also grew uncomfortable when reporters asked him to produce some evidence for China’s repeated claims that American spy balloons are constantly flying over Chinese territory. The latest version of these claims is that America has spy balloons parked over the Chinese-oppressed regions of Tibet and East Turkistan, called the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by the Chinese government.
“China has handled the illegal flight of U.S. balloons through our airspace in a calm and professional manner. By contrast, the U.S. overreacted to the unintended entry of a Chinese civilian airship into its airspace caused by force majeure,” Wang sputtered.
“The U.S. needs to give an explanation to China and the international community, reflect on its behavior, stop smearing and attacking China and stop misleading the U.S. public and the international community. China reserves the right to further respond if necessary,” he said.
Wang did not do any better on Thursday when reporters once again asked for evidence of China’s “American spy balloons over Tibet” claims, simply repeating the allegations and demanding an “explanation” from the United States.
Wang then mumbled something about an aquatic drone made by an American private company being found off the coast of Namibia, a story the Chinese Communist propaganda machine has grown deliriously fixated upon as supposed evidence of American drone spying, even though the University of Gothenburg in Sweden has already announced it was their marine research drone.
In this photo provided by Chad Fish, the remnants of a large balloon drift above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, Feb. 4, 2023. A missile fired on Feb. 5 by a U.S. F-22 off the Carolina coast ended the days-long flight of what the Biden administration says was a surveillance operation that took the Chinese balloon near U.S. military sites. It was an unprecedented incursion across U.S. territory for recent decades, and raised concerns among Americans about a possible escalation in spying and other challenges from rival China. (Chad Fish via AP, File)
Chinese state media – which has cranked out tons of hyperventilating columns this week accusing the U.S. of being obsessed with the spy balloon – said that Wang’s threatened countermeasures would be the kind of economic sanctions that China supposedly despises as instruments of Western imperialism.
“It’s hard to correct many of the U.S.’ unreasonable behaviors with language or reason. We need to take self-defense actions to make the U.S. government view things on an equal footing when it comes to U.S.-China relations,” professor Li Haidong of China Foreign Affairs University huffed to the state-run Global Times on Wednesday.
After praising China’s conduct as “calm” and “reasonable” repeatedly, the Global Times suggested creating some sort of hotline with the U.S. and Canada to avoid future balloon misunderstandings.
“If the U.S. sincerely hopes to communicate and cooperate with us, we’ll surely welcome it. But if it wants to use certain topics as leverage and sticks with a Cold War mentality, it will be a delusion and we’ll confront it without fear,” said Renmin University associated professor Dia Daming, scoring a few brownie points by working Beijing’s favorite talking point about “Cold War mentality” into the discussion.
Another Global Times article on Wednesday mocked the Biden administration for possibly shooting down American or Canadian balloons over the weekend in its paranoid fervor to intercept Chinese surveillance craft:
On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that “American military and civilian agencies have flown balloons over the US for a growing range of national-security applications, scientific research, intelligence collection and commercial uses, according to industry experts, former officials and government documents.” In other words, “the US may have taken down three of its own balloons,” Shen Yi, a professor at Fudan University, told Global Times. Those F-22s, F-16, and costly missiles fired in the missions, may have all shelled random pieces of American own assets.
Now, it would be hilarious to re-read the news stories in US media over the past days, which vividly portrayed pictures of American politicians and pundits running around with their hair on fire, vehemently calling for more military budget and Cold War escalations, all for a small harmless balloon.
The Global Times argued that America’s balloon hysteria proves China has the upper hand in the contest for global power:
The more important question confronting the US is – does it want China-US ties at all? In the short term, Washington faces more crucial puzzles relating to its national interests, including national debt, macroeconomic policies, and trade with China. To some extent, the US needs China more than China needs the US. Against this backdrop, it would be equivalent to setting traps for itself, if the US keeps squeezing its wiggle room in ties with China.
The Chinese propagandists suggested President Joe Biden could begin the process of begging for China’s forgiveness by lifting the sanctions imposed last Friday against the six Chinese companies associated with the downed spy balloon.