The visit of Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China, scheduled for Sunday February 5 and Monday February 6, was to be an event in itself. The first of its kind in six years for a head of American diplomacy, it included, it seems, a meeting with President Xi Jinping, a kind of protocol and political favor. But a flying object – a spy balloon – struck this program, leading Washington, Friday, February 3, to « reporter » move. Antony Blinken spoke during the day with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to justify this decision. The visit would not have been “appropriate” because of “irresponsible act” Chinese, according to a statement from the State Department.
Thursday, the Pentagon revealed the presence of the spy balloon over the state of Montana. “We know it’s a surveillance balloon”, evolving at approximately 18,000 meters of altitude, explained the spokesman of the Pentagon, the brigadier general Pat Ryder. It took until Friday evening for China to recognize that it belonged to it and express its regrets, while explaining that the flying object « civil » was actually used for “research, especially meteorological”. According to Beijing, it would have deviated due to strong winds and would have inadvertently entered American airspace. However, it now appears to be heading east and should remain over the United States. ” A few days “, according to the Pentagon. Some sort of basket with monitoring capabilities would sit under the ball itself.
In this state of Montana is an air force base and firing ranges dedicated to nuclear-tipped missiles. The ball was flying at an attitude “significantly higher” than conventional commercial traffic and posed no risk to residents on the ground, notes a senior Pentagon official. On several occasions in recent years, such activity had already been spotted, including before the arrival of Joe Biden at the White House. Seized of the case on 1is February, the president found himself faced with a choice, both security and political: should he shoot the ball down?
“Limited added value” in terms of intelligence
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was at the same time traveling to the Philippines to formalize the extension of the American military presence in this country, and in the Indo-Pacific in general, in the face of Chinese aspirations. He called a crisis meeting to assess the various options. The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Mark Milley, recommended not to hit the target, because too significant a risk would have existed for the population on the ground, even very sparsely in this area, due to the debris . This estimate gives an indication of the imposing size of the flying object, which the Pentagon did not want to specify.
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