Washington Recovers Chinese Balloon Remnants as Controversy Continues

First modification: 02/07/2023 – 03:04

The United States declared on Monday that it had recovered the first remains of the Chinese balloon, while the Joe Biden government tried to contain the consequences of this episode, both before the Republican opposition and against Beijing.

“The question is not whether we trust China, the question is deciding where we can work together and where we are in opposition,” said the US president, asked by journalists on his return to the White House.

Joe Biden recalled that he had decided to shoot down the alleged Chinese ‘spy balloon’ last Wednesday, but that the US military had advised him to wait until the ship was over the Atlantic, in US territorial waters.

Washington did not directly respond to the Chinese government’s accusations on Sunday that the US shooting down of the balloon, which it described as a civilian aircraft that had strayed from its route, had “seriously affected and damaged” relations between the two countries.

While defending its tough stance, the United States even reiterated its willingness to keep “open lines of communication” with its great strategic rival. “Even in these times of heightened tensions, we want the opportunity to pick up the phone and talk” to the Chinese, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday.

“No to a new Cold War”

He said the United States had been in contact with Chinese authorities since the downing of the balloon, but said there had been “no discussions” about rescheduling Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan declared Monday in a debate in Washington that “the United States is not seeking a new Cold War” with China.

Washington is in contact with its allies and partners to keep them informed of the elements gathered around the alleged Chinese ‘spy balloon’, whose passage through US territory has captivated the country for several days.

Faced with the Republican opposition, which was quick to denounce the weakness of the Biden Administration in the face of China, the spokesman for the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, assured that the decision to wait before shooting down the balloon had given the Americans “a tremendous opportunity to better understand and study” the artifact, while waiting for the remains to provide more information. He also claimed that the United States had “taken steps to limit the (data) collection ability this balloon would have had over our sensitive military locations.”

It’s not about returning the rubble

The teams deployed off the coast of South Carolina, in the southeast of the country, “have recovered some debris from the surface of the sea,” said John Kirby, who added that “weather conditions” had not yet allowed the underwater recovery of the apparatus. The official also claimed that the United States had “no intention of returning” the collected remains to China.

General Glen VanHerck, head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), said a US Navy ship was exploring the radius where the debris fell.

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The balloon itself was about 60 meters high and was carrying a kind of gondola weighing more than a ton, the official said at another news conference. The remains will be carefully studied, the general added.

In another twist, according to John Kirby, the Biden administration has “reached out to senior officials from the previous administration and (offered) briefings” about the Chinese balloon flights that took place while Donald Trump was president. According to the Pentagon, Chinese balloons flew over US territory three times for brief periods during Donald Trump’s presidency, and once, also briefly, at the start of Joe Biden’s term.

*With AFP; adapted from its original in French