(New York) After several days of almost total silence about the flying machines that everyone has been talking about, Joe Biden finally spoke about it on Thursday. Addressing the American nation from the White House, he tried to put out at least one of the two fires caused by these intrusions into the North American sky, the one that affects domestic politics.
Posted at 6:00 am
The other fire threatening US-China relations must be the subject of a separate approach, according to the American President. The latter announced his intention to meet soon with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to denounce the violation of American airspace by the Chinese balloon that flew over his country for several days.
During this episode, the United States and China reiterated their difficulties in discerning their respective intentions, a situation that comes at just as the two military and economic powers are attempting to mend relations.
As of Thursday, Joe Biden had made no direct or substantive comment on the Chinese balloon or the other three vehicles that were also shot down.
During a short speech, he first tried to convince Americans of the seemingly harmless nature of these three devices.
“The intelligence community’s current view is that these three objects were most likely balloons associated with private companies, recreational or research facilities that study the weather or conduct other scientific research,” the White House chief said.
He added that there is no evidence of a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky. “We’re just seeing more of them now, thanks in part to the steps we’ve taken to improve our radars,” he said, while claiming he gave the green light for the devices to be destroyed “out of excessive caution.” .
“I don’t apologize”
Critics of the Biden administration had lamented its lack of transparency about the nature of the downed devices and called for new guidelines for dealing with similar situations in the future. The President announced three steps in this direction, the first being the creation of a better inventory of unmanned aerial objects in space over American territory.
He also dismissed Republican and Democratic criticism of his handling of the Chinese balloon affair, which was shot down off South Carolina on February 4 after flying over American territory for several days.
“I hope we get to the bottom of this case. But I don’t apologize for knocking down that ball,” said Joe Biden.
When it came time to discuss the other fire caused by the Chinese balloon, the President reiterated that the United States was seeking “competition, not conflict” with China. “We are not looking for a new Cold War,” he said.
miscalculation
Joe Biden will have the opportunity to reiterate this message during his eventual interview with Xi Jinping. Meanwhile, officials in his government presented a more detailed version of the events leading to the destruction of the Chinese balloon to some media outlets on condition of anonymity.
This version suggests that the Chinese leadership misjudged how the United States would respond to the violation of its airspace.
According to reports published by the New York Times and Washington Post, among others, US intelligence and military personnel tracked the balloon’s path as soon as it took off from the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
The trajectory was to take the balloon over a US territory, Guam, and a US state, Hawaii, in the Pacific, where China has conducted brief surveillance operations in the past, US sources say.
However, the ball’s trajectory suddenly changed and took an unexpected turn north. This shift leads Americans to believe that China had no intention of invading the heart of the United States with its balloon, over which its operators had limited control. However, these could have destroyed it in mid-flight before it entered American airspace.
China did nothing
Never mind: According to American history, China remained insensitive to a Feb. 1 address to its government by the United States’ two longest-serving diplomats – Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his deputy Wendy Sherman. Essentially, Mr. Blinken and Mrs. Sherman’s message to the Chinese was, “Do something with your ball.”
China did nothing and let the ball continue its course. More than 24 hours and half a day later, after the Pentagon confirmed the balloon’s presence in US airspace, China privately informed the US government that the balloon was just a civilian aircraft that had deviated from its course. She would later publicly repeat this message.
The Biden administration responded by announcing it was canceling Antony Blinken’s visit to China.
Following the political storm caused by its balloon in the United States, China sent another private message to the Biden administration, advising that it would try to accelerate the plane’s course to get it out of American airspace faster to get.
This message was delivered as the balloon attempted to fly across the Atlantic, where it was shot down.
Since then, China has multiplied allegations against the United States, claiming that it itself sent surveillance balloons into Chinese airspace, particularly over Tibet and Xinjiang.
China scientists see the allegations as Beijing’s attempt to ward off criticism of its surveillance balloons.
Mr Biden’s appeal to Mr Xi will not come too soon.