SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – “We are aware of the PRC’s statement,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder Friday of China’s explanation for why a balloon device was found floating over the U.S.
China claimed it was a research balloon that got blown off course. However, the U.S. isn’t buying it. Around 2:55 p.m. ET Saturday, the U.S. military shot the balloon, according to CNN.
For more, stream KCBS Radio now.
“The fact is that we know that it’s a surveillance balloon, and I’m not gonna be able to be more specific than that,” said Ryder. “We do know that the balloon has violated U.S. airspace and international law, which is unacceptable.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken even canceled a trip to Beijing after the balloon was discovered, according to the State Department.
KCBS Radio’s Bret Burkhart and Patti Reising spoke with Robert Dally, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, to learn more about the situation. Dally said that it is possible that China sent the balloon over the U.S. to test how the country would react.
“You know, Beijing government, it’s a black box. We don’t know how they operate. They are generally not this ham-handed,” he said. “You know, this doesn’t work for China to have this exposed,” just before Blinken was set to travel to Beijing.
Dally also said that “China badly wants a timeout from friction with the United States because it needs to focus on getting its own economy in shape,” and is “not really looking for trouble.”
“So is this just, you know, bureaucratic poor coordination? Is it the military was doing things that Beijing didn't know about? There is no one clear explanation yet,” he said.
Independent air-power analyst He Yuan Ming told the BBC this week that the balloon might be an attempt by the People’s Republic of China to improve ties with the U.S.
“Beijing is probably trying to signal to Washington: ‘While we want to improve ties, we are also ever ready for sustained competition, using any means necessary,’ without severely inflaming tensions,” he said, according to the outlet.
KCBS Radio also asked Dally about a second balloon seen drifting over Latin America.
“Well, I’m not concerned with immediate threat,” he said, before the balloon was shot down. “I’m a little bit concerned that we are unable to intercept any of these balloons. We’ve heard from the government that we can’t shoot down with a missile because debris could hit people who are on the surface. But why can’t we just pluck these things out of the sky, find out what’s with them inside them, and then and then expose the balloon? I’m a little mystified as to why we’re as passive as we are.”
The balloon was still floating over the U.S. Friday, and Ryder said it was moving eastward after it was spotted over Montana. An official told CNN Friday that “this isn’t like ‘Top Gun’ where it just explodes and doesn’t go anywhere. It’s large and it’s metal, it would put hundreds of Americans at risk.”
As for Blinken’s trip to China, Dally said it would be a surprise if the State Department head “got on a plane as early as next week,” but that he will eventually travel to Beijing, and that the incident won’t cause the U.S. and PRC to stop communicating.
“You know, we often give other countries a pass when they’re caught spying on us, in part because it’s a strange kind of gentlemen’s game in which we want to pass,” Dally explained. “We’re spying on them. And a little bit of that seems to be at work here. So there’s a lot that we don't know yet about. Not only why China did this, but what America’s motivations are.”
DOWNLOAD the Audacy App
SIGN UP and follow KCBS Radio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Related
Related
