By: JMK
China of using a “spy” surveillance machine over it territory. A claim China has strongly denied noting the Airspace balloon was just a weather surveillance craft.
Though the incident is unfortunate, it shows a clear indication that the United States acted aggressively with a friendly side.
This action by the U.S side will seriously affect foreign policy and perhaps undermine the ties between China and the United States, considering that the civilian airship is used for research, mainly meteorology purposes affected by the westerly and with limited self-steering capability; the airship deviated far from its planned course.
The U.S does not seem to understand the Chinese view on the said incident but was quick to judge the book by it cover. If I may ask, does the United States value the relationship it has built with China over the years? Or is it just a matter of pretense? These are questions I believe the U.S government may find difficult to answer.
The claim by the Pentagon that the Chinese balloon violated the U.S. airspace and international law is obviously a miscalculation to discredit the good image of China. Because it is simply a non-military balloon for scientific research purposes and accidentally slipped too far. We can see that because of the tremendous work and contribution China has done so far toward the advancement of the world, it has become envy to some world powers, especially the U.S. who has now seen China as a threat to its national sovereignty.
A quick recap of the Trump Foreign Policy to that of Biden’s administration towards China, you may realize that, there is a great lacuna in terms of China-U.S relations. It is obvious that, China is pushing hard to maintain the peaceful co-existence and long standing relationship with the U.S, but it seems the U.S doesn’t recognize this unflinching efforts of the Chinese Government.
As a responsible and law abiding nation, China was so quick to admit to the unfortunate balloon incident. This shows how accommodating and respectful China is as a big nation, and how the Chinese people are willing to embrace peace and co-existence with the United States of America.
A statement from John Brennan, former CIA Director, shows that the United State is uncomfortable and appears to be in a state of fear over the balloon incident- “I don’t know the type of sensor in the balloon but the Chinese are very advanced in technology”, he affirmed.
It has also been categorically clear that, despite China’s expressing of regret, the United States is still firm in its decision and will continue to do further “investigations” in order to get to the root of the said incident. Even the Republicans are pointing fingers and criticizing the Biden administration for not acting sooner. The shooting down of the said civilian airship does not augur well in the area of diplomatic relationship. It was a harmless airship, but going to the extent of shooting begs the question of unprofessionalism and overreaction on the side of the US.
The two major powers should be capable of listening to each other when situations like this occurs, but when one side fails to listen to the other, it directly undermines the strong bond that holds them together.
When the incident occurred China on its own side through the Foreign Ministry has verified the situation and communicated with the U.S. side several times, saying the unintended entry of the airship into the U.S. airspace was due to force majeure. However, the U.S. has been making a big fuss over such an incident against the anti-China atmosphere which has become the “political correctness”. In fact, several media reports from U.S. have shown that the action of the U.S. military on the Chinese civilian airship has been hailed by the U.S President Joe Biden as “a success”.
Therefore and most importantly, we Africans stand in conformity and solidarity with China to condemn the act by the U.S. We urge the U.S. to deescalate the tension with China quickly.