By Haider Abbas
After shooting-down the Chinese balloon on February 4, over US territorial waters of South Carolina, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken , revealed as per ABCNews1, ‘that U.S. assesse(d) the alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down over the weekend was part of an expansive surveillance program aimed at gathering intelligence from targets around the globe. Chinese surveillance balloon part of massive program over 5 continents.’ US wants to groom other countries to mobilize an opinion, and also since now, has set an example, for other nations to follow suit?
China, cried that it was a weather-gathering balloon, and US shot it down. China, released a video showing as to how, based on a Hollywood mentality, US used its F-22 bomber, to bring down the Chinese balloon. The video went viral on Chinese media and later into the whole world. This came through News.Com.AU 2 that ‘China is trolling the US over its ‘spy balloon hysteria’. A new video released by online trolls has ridiculed the US, as Chinese media continue to blast the “deliberately orchestrated act of political drama”. US President Joe Biden publicly declared that the country is not seeking conflict with the Asian superpower. However, Washington’s insistence the balloon was indeed a nefarious espionage tool has left many in China gleeful over the scandal. One video uploaded to social media showed a computer generated US fighter jet attempting to shoot down the balloon to the tune of the Mission Impossible soundtrack.’
China wants to score over US, through this video, typically with a background music of Mission Impossible, a famous Hollywood movie, a geo-political message to undo the chest-thumping from US. The ridicule-US video, of about 50 seconds, is being covered by India, US and the whole world media, apart from being present widely on social-media platforms. Chinese made fun and mocked US of its F-12 Raptor Jet chasing the Chinese balloon, as the balloon ducked the (mis)fires from the fighter-jet, which made the world go-drooling over it! But, BBC 3 informed that US ‘briefed 40 allied countries about the alleged espionage’ of China and about violation of US territorial integrity. The balloon had passed-over Canada too, which made Canada to summon Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu on February 3. US has refused to return the debris to China.
Owing to the sensitivity involved the Chinese cyber army got into the groove and successfully thwarted the US setback by making it a laughing-stock for its citizens. China through its video and series of cartoon, published in The Global Times, China government official mouthpiece, belittled the US Raptor and also the US ‘over-reaction’ on it. Perhaps, the prime reason for China to release the series of cartoon etc, in all probability, is to scuttle the US claim of espionage, by way of use of its spy-balloons, that too across five continents. This of course, means the whole world. But, why would China invite the whole world backlash? Particularly, when it is locked with US on many fronts, primarily over South-China sea around Taiwan. China maintains that its balloons were all for weather researches.
US has accused China of spying through its balloons all over the world, which means, the balloons were sighted earlier too? Why then US did not press the panic button? Here, US has come forward to acknowledge that earlier it had ‘mistaken previous Chinese spy balloons as Unmanned Flying Objects. The India Today 4 cited that the New York Times reported that ‘previous incursions by Chinese spy balloons during the Trump administration were not detected in real-time. Some of these aerial incursions in the past were designated as “unidentified aerial phenomena.” For any analyst it may be termed as an act of ‘gross negligence’ from the US side. But, in the same report, it confirms that ‘it is not clear when the Pentagon determined the incidents involved Chinese spying. When they finally classified it as China’s spying, officials “kept the information secret to avoid letting China know their surveillance efforts were uncovered.”’
US wants to give a message that it did not announce that it had caught the Chinese spying tactics, as it was neither a satellite or an aircraft, and let it go, but then, why would China hazard a balloon of a size of 200 feet and more than a couple of thousand pounds ! Then, US decided to bring it down to halt the Chinese massive spying programme. The India Today 5 cited a Washington Post report, based on anonymous US defense and intelligence officials that ‘China ha(d) targeted India, Japan Vietnam, Taiwan and Philippines ( as prime targets). Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, in an address to about 40 embassies in Washington, said the Chinese surveillance balloon, operated for several years partly out of Hainan (China) province, collected information on military assets of several countries. US officials briefed India too.
US has of course brought down the Chinese balloon but on the contrary probably every citizen of US is deep into carrying the Chinese Spy machine, that is Tik Tok! Why has US not curbed it? Though US has sought its government employees to not to use Tik Tok. Here, US can well take the cue from India which has long banned Tik Tok but US President Joseph Biden is still not sure whether US would ban it. The Indian Express 6 has reported that ‘TikTok has faced questions about its data practices and whether it is transmitting information about Americans collected from its app to Chinese authorities.’
India might have rightly banned Tik Tok but will need to put its nerves on test, as now after the US precedent, in case a Chinese balloon flies over India, the way it did recently over the Andaman and Nicrobar Islands in January last year, when the tri-service military drills were underway? As is being debated in The Wire 7 and shoot it down? What happens if China does it again over Ladakh or Arunachal where it is entangled in a conflict with India? How will India situate to it, particularly, when after the US action, Russia has denounced the US act and has called it hysterical, according the RT 7. The report contented that ‘“Washington and the American media’s impulsive reaction can’t be described as anything other than hysterical. US continues to use “contrived reasons, or none at all, in order to slander and demonize countries who refuse to dance to their tune,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.’
How will India act into this geo-political question arising out of Chinese balloons is what time is to tell.
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The writer is a former UP State Information Commissioner and writes on international issues.