Hey guys!
Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. The past month has been really hectic, with a mix of vacation and schoolwork keeping me from returning to The Globe.
However, I am nearing a point in my studies where I’ll be able to return to my every-other-day schedule, and until then I will post as much as I can.
You may know that the United States and China don’t exactly have the friendliest of relations. There is somewhat of a power struggle going on between the two countries, over who will take the lead role in the world stage. China is rapidly rising to challenge American global leadership, which is leading to understandable friction between the superpowers. Adding further tension to the cold relationship is China’s crimes against the Uyghur people of northwestern China, which is charactered by many as genocide. That’s not to mention the Taiwan debacle, a possible new space race…
So, yeah, the US and China don’t always get along.
And now there’s a new problem, in the form of an innocent-looking balloon over American skies.
A balloon, it turns out, that was a Chinese surveillance balloon.
The mysterious balloon floated from Alaska over Montana - which, crazy enough, has 150 missile silos - and across the US. It has caused a sizable diplomatic rift between China and the United States, with the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceling a planned trip to Beijing that was intended to lower tensions. After several days of hanging around, possibly gathering intel on United States nuclear capability, it was shot down by an F-22 Raptor off the coast of North Carolina.
Now, in a situation like this, one might expect China to be apologetic, or at least do their best to save face. One would be wrong, since Beijing has taken the direct opposite course, denouncing the US for “overreacting,” and continuing to insist that it was merely a civilian weather balloon that had blown off course. They even issued a threat, that they “retain the right to respond further.” This begs the question: how exactly did they expect the United States to respond?
I can’t provide a conclusive answer, but I do know one thing:
Trouble is literally on the horizon.
Video of when the balloon was shot down:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/04/us/china-spy-balloon