Chen Xiaodong, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to South Africa
Recently, a Chinese civilian unmanned airship strayed into the US due to force majeure. The US took advantage of the incident and went all out to stage a ridiculous political farce.
Nearly a month later, the incident is still being hyped up, highlighting the dangerous imbalance in US policy towards China.
Disregarding the facts and distorting the truth.
After the incident occurred, the Chinese side, in a responsible attitude, immediately made a thorough inquiry and informed the US side.
China confirmed that the airship was owned by a private Chinese enterprise and used for meteorological scientific research purposes. Due to the influence of the westerlies and limited self-control capabilities, the airship veered off its scheduled route and strayed into the US by accident.
However, the US has turned a blind eye to the facts and continued to smear and defame China, deliberately labelling the airship as a “Chinese spy balloon” to exaggerate the so-called “China threat”.
As is well known, it has become an international practice to use high-altitude balloons for meteorological and other scientific research activities. As of 2018, more than 2 000 high-altitude balloons had been released in the US, about 3 000 in France and more than 800 in Japan.
With the development of technology and the increasing demand for scientific research, institutions or companies from around the world have been releasing high-altitude balloons more frequently, and there are more cases of balloons flying across borders, which are generally handled properly.
Some US politicians and media incessantly hype up the so-called “Chinese spy balloon” and create discourse traps that run counter to scientific common sense and political logic. Many people in the public say that anyone with common sense can see from the perspective of both necessity and effectiveness that China would not choose to use large-target, limited-equipment-capacity balloons for so-called strategic reconnaissance on a country thousands of miles away.
Mishandling the situation and resorting to force.
Since the incident occurred, China has maintained a positive and co-operative attitude, keeping in close communication with the US side, hoping that the US can handle the situation properly together with China in a rational, calm and professional manner.
A spokesman for the US Department of Defence also said the balloon would not pose a military or physical threat to personnel on the ground. Under such circumstances, the US still went ahead and brazenly dispatched F-22 fighter jets and used missiles to shoot down an unmanned aircraft that posed no threat, which is absurd.
The unilateral resort to force by the US side is a blatant violation of the spirit of international law and international practice of warning, evicting, accompanying and forced landing of civil aircraft that strays into a country’s airspace and peaceful settlement through diplomatic channels, and the principle of “peaceful settlement of international disputes through negotiation and consultation” as stipulated in the UN Charter, the obligations of the Chicago Convention and a number of basic principles of international law.
By doing so, the US has set a bad precedent for international relations and norms. Its deliberate intention to create global tension has once again exposed excessive use of force and arrogance on the US side.
Harbouring evil intentions and measuring others by one’s own yardstick.
People who frequently inflict harm on others are prone to “persecution complex” syndrome. The US, which measures others by its own yardstick, fabricates a narrative of “spy balloons” with ease precisely because it is the world’s largest surveillance and reconnaissance country with the largest spy network.
During World War II, the US used wireless airships for reconnaissance and attack in Europe. After the war, the US specially developed and used high-altitude reconnaissance balloons to carry out a series of strategic reconnaissance operations against the Soviet Union.
In the new century, the US also used surveillance balloons called aerostat in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Prism program and the Stateroom Program revealed that the US has been conducting large-scale, indiscriminate network espionage, surveillance and attacks against governments, companies and individuals of various countries, including its own allies.
In January, the US flew 64 surveillance planes to conduct close-in reconnaissance over the South China Sea. Since May last year, the US has released a large number of high-altitude balloons over its own territory and illegally flew over China’s airspace at least 10 times, including over Xinjiang and Tibet, without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities.
Unlike the excessive reaction from the US, China has calmly and professionally dealt with the illegal overflight of US balloons into Chinese airspace, which the US has failed to mention anything about. The US should reflect on itself, get over its delusions, stop smearing and attacking China, and stop misleading the American people and the international community. China reserves the right to make further necessary responses.
Clinging to the Cold War mentality and shifting blame to others. The reason why an accidental incident of a “strayed balloon” has turned into a political farce is that the US subscribes to misjudgements about China, and is obsessed with seeing China as a so-called “strategic competitor”.
The US should understand that it’s useless to ask others to take pills when the US is ill itself. No matter how hard it tries to smear and attack China, and suppress Chinese technology enterprises, these moves will not help solve its own problems, nor will it stop the overarching trend of China’s peaceful development.
The key to curing the illness for the US is to take off its tinted glasses, remove the dust from its mind, recognise China’s development and its own problems honestly, and focus on solving domestic issues such as inflation, social division, the gap between rich and poor, and difficulties faced by ethnic minorities.
The incident of the “strayed balloon” makes the international community further realise that the US policy toward China is not only unfair to China, but also hurts the US itself, and disrupts the global efforts to address the multiple challenges facing the world.
Surely our friends in South Africa and people with insight from around the world will objectively, rationally and fairly view this accidental situation caused by force majeure and will not believe in lies and rumours. We will continue to work with all parties to promote state-to-state co-operation in the field of scientific research, avoid the recurrence of similar regrettable situations and strive to build a harmonious world.
It’s hoped that the US side will show sincerity, face up to and resolve the obstacles this incident has caused bilateral relations, and work with China to bring China-US relations back to the track of sound and stable development.