Reminds me of the screaming from the right when Russian bombers were entering US airspace during the Obama Administration. Turns out that Russian/Soviet bombers had been doing the same going back decades under every US president regardless of party including both Reagan and Nixon.
The speculation is that the equipment on the balloon was used primarily to gather signals intelligence since the Chinese apparently already have the capability of taking high resolution photos using satellites.
Although I suspect that the government will neither admit not deny it, it's very possible that we were jamming transmissions from the balloon before it was shot down. Although Republican politicians have been bashing Biden for not shooting the balloon down sooner it's very possible that no harm was done when it was over the US if it was unable to transmit data back to China.
Sorry, bro, but Rubio admitted it was true that other balloons had flown over parts of the US, when asked if it happened 3 times while Trump was president… but he tried to downplay those occurrences (which were not shot down and kept secret from the American people) and make a big deal out of this one… https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/02/05/marco-rubio-suspected-spy-balloon-trump-administration-sotu-vpx.cnn
It’s too bad that Trump set such a bad precedent with these Chinese incursions, they must have been shocked when Biden, with his balls of steel, finally did something about it… “PRC [People’s Republic of China] government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration but never for this duration of time,” said a senior defense official. “We spoke directly with Chinese officials through multiple channels, but rather than address their intrusion into our airspace, the PRC put out an explanation that lacked any credibility.” and… of course… The cowardly lion lies about it… bet the reports on this were hidden away in the pool cabana at Mar a Lago. “Trump denied the revelation by defense officials that Chinese balloons flew over the U.S. during his administration, calling it “disinformation.”” https://thehill.com/policy/defense/...-times-during-trump-administration-officials/
Here's another source. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/...-times-during-trump-administration-officials/ And this is probably your favorite ttps://www.foxnews.com/politics/chinese-spy-balloons-over-us-during-trump-admin-discovered-after-he-left-office-senior-biden-official Trump officials deny that it ever happened but then the Trump Administration is the administration of alternative facts.
I think China’s motivation was three fold. First, to gather some intelligence, though I doubt they got a ton. Second, they apparently like to make these little power plays before summits, as a way to title the power dynamic. But just as importantly, they felt neutered by the Taiwan visits, their is probably part of their response. “Look, we can hit back”. I think generally the Chinese just look silly. Even the SCMP, normally a Beijing mouthpiece, isn’t defending it. This was one of the op Ed’s they were willing to publish. Montana balloon farce must not derail improving US-China relations
