A Chinese balloon was shot down
After it crossed the US
So what was its real purpose?
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
There’s been a lot of talk of war with China lately. So you’ll probably want to catch up on
the military industrial complex, which I explain in the latest episode of our new channel Gamers
Unbeaten, how Nier Automata deconstructs the military industrial complex. Link is below.
Balloons. Some are decorations for celebration.
Others are a sign of evil.
And if it’s a gender reveal party, they’re both.
For the Chinese Communist Party, though, they’re for spying. And also evil.
Last week, a Chinese balloon was spotted floating over 60,000 feet in the air above Montana.
This isn’t just any balloon. It was unmanned, maneuverable, and huge,
with a payload below the balloon the size of 2 to 3 school buses.
“Well hello everybody. I am sitting in my driveway here in Billings, Montana,
and right now, there is a ground stop on our airport and this thing is up in the sky.”
And if you thought I was being dramatic calling this balloon evil,
then maybe they shouldn’t have made it look
like the Death Star.
It was later reported that the balloon had already entered the US air defense
identification zone near Alaska on January 28, crossed into Canada on the 30th,
and into Idaho on the 31st. Then it spent several days going from Montana to South Carolina.
The path wasn’t random.
According to US officials, the balloon went over several sensitive sites,
though what exactly they were wasn't specified.
However, Montana is the home of Malmstrom Air Force Base, where there are over a
hundred silos holding nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“The fact is we know that it’s a surveillance balloon”
“once the balloon was detected,
we acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”
Hopefully by “Protect against the collection of sensitive information” they mean they
put up a tarp with a pointed message on it.
Before images of the balloon over Montana hit the press, it seems the US government tried to
keep the balloon’s existence under wraps. The US had already tracked its movements over Alaska.
But once it became public, people started asking questions.
Questions like, “Is that a moon? No… it’s too small to be a moon.”
Or questions like, “Should I shoot first before asking questions?”
Just kidding. This happened in America. They didn’t ask if they should shoot first.
You think I’m kidding, but local authorities were
seriously worried that people would actually start shooting at the sky.
Even US President Joe Biden reportedly wanted to shoot first,
but he was advised not to, since the crash landing could hurt civilians.
The balloon incident made headlines right before US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken was going to visit China to meet with Xi Jinping.
So in response, Blinken canceled his China trip,
saying that the Chinese balloon was an “irresponsible act” and a “clear
violation of US sovereignty and international law”.
By the time the balloon reached the Carolina coast, several airports closed down.
Man, imagine having your flight canceled because of a balloon.
I’d say we’re living in the dumbest timeline, but this is too stupid even
for that. Even Southwest had a better excuse for canceling their flights.
Then an F-22 stealth fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base,
Virginia, accompanied with F-15s from Barnes Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts intercepted
and shot down the balloon with an air-to-air Sidewinder missile six miles off the coast.
The debris landed on shallow water in the Atlantic, making it easier for
Naval vessels and the FBI to hunt for it. The US Navy released photos on Tuesday
showing their sailors hauling pieces of the balloon onto a naval vessel.
One official says the pod fell largely intact, and should provide a useful opportunity to
examine and reverse-engineer Chinese intelligence and communications systems.
But while this Chinese spy balloon is the first to make big headlines, it’s not the first one.
In fact, China has done it several times, and has been doing it all over the world, including
The Philippines, India, and Japan.
I’ll tell you about that—and what these balloons are for—after the break.
Welcome back.
The US shot down a Chinese spy balloon after it crossed over the US.
But at first, Chinese state-run media like The
Global Times tried to insinuate that the balloon didn’t come from China.
Yeah! That Chinese spy balloon could have come from *anywhere*!
What next, you’re gonna say that Turkish delights are from Turkey? That’s just profiling!
They said that the US is cooking up stories of a made-up China threat.
Then China’s Foreign Ministry admitted that it *was* a Chinese balloon,
but that it was only a civilian vessel used for “mainly” meteorological purposes.
It just happened to deviate from its planned course.
“Mainly” meteorological purposes? Were they just checking the weather
over every major military base in the Midwest?
What else was it used for? Nothing that would,
say, help the Chinese military gather intelligence, right?
Naw, if you think that, then you’re just hyping up
the China threat. China always respects international law and state sovereignty.
Just look at all that respect.
China doubled down on its story by firing Zhuang Guotai,
the director of China’s Meteorological Bureau.
Which goes to show that no matter how hard you work,
if the Chinese Communist Party can use you as a scapegoat, they will. It must
be hard driving buses in China with all the people the CCP keeps throwing under them.
In response to the US shooting down China’s totally non-threatening balloon,
they claim the US overreacted.
Which makes China the only country on the planet calling the US waiting until a spy
balloon crossed most of the continental US before shooting it down an *over*reaction.
It also claims the right to “respond further”
and “resolutely” defend the rights of Chinese companies.
So, totally wrong if the US were to send balloons to China,
but totally fine when China does it in the US.
An editorial in The Guardian says the incident is “most probably a
blunder by lower-ranking cadres – or sabotage by hardliners.”
And they’re not willing to rule out evil clowns.
But this Chinese spy balloon is *not* some one-off
mistake. Although getting caught this time is obviously a mistake.
It’s part of a larger, more troubling pattern.
A Defense official said that Chinese surveillance balloons transited the
continental US at least three times during the Trump administration and at least once
during the Biden administration. This includes Texas and Florida.
Wait, it was able to get through Texas and Florida without being shot down? That’s actually
impressive, considering folks in Texas and Florida even shoot at jokes that go over their head.
Outside the continental US, a Chinese spy balloon was spotted near Hawaii last year.
And earlier, there were reports of an unmarked floating orb over Hawaii.
Although that might have just been Goku.
The same goes for the US territory of Guam,
though there aren’t exact details of when this happened in 2022.
Not too long after China’s latest spy balloon was spotted over Montana,
another was spotted over Latin America—reportedly over Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela.
There’s a lot more than just these incidents.
One Pentagon official said “five Chinese balloons have circumnavigated the globe,
and China has conducted 20 to 30 balloon missions globally over the past decade.”
As I mentioned, this includes an airship over the Philippines last year.
Which resemble two solar-powered designs, the Tian Heng and Yuan Meng.
There’s also reports of balloons spotted above India in 2022,
as well as Japan in 2020 and 2021.
Although we don’t have proof that these balloons belonged to China,
this latest incident in the US is making other countries look for links to these past incursions.
So what’s the purpose of these Chinese spy balloons?
Well—the US military hasn’t said for sure. But here are some possibilities.
They could be used for taking high-resolution
photos—although satellites can do that just as well.
They could be used to collect signals from military transmissions. Radio
signals bounce off the ionosphere, or are sent to satellites in orbit.
A spy balloon flown directly in the path could intercept these signals.
Balloons could also be used to drop sensors that would glide to the ground.
Those could then collect data like sound, radiation, chemicals in the air, and more.
For all we know, China might even one day use balloons for carrying
bombs or armed drones. Which could lead to the most destructive balloons since
gender reveal parties.
The fact that Chinese balloons have been entering other countries’
airspace for years with very little response is pretty weird, right?
But it also makes sense that governments would try to keep Chinese spy balloons under wraps.
They might want to avoid a diplomatic
incident—like the one where they had to cancel Blinkin’s visit to China.
Or they might keep it quiet so they can use the balloons *against* China—a denial
and deception operation. For example, the CIA could send false information
back to the balloon, to trick China into thinking or doing what it wants.
But now that photos of this latest balloon have hit the press, the game is up.
And the public can call out China’s clowning around.
And this show is possible because of viewer support. So as a thank you to
all my wonderful fans who support China Uncensored through the crowdfunding website
Patreon or the exclusive social media platform Locals, I’ll answer one of your questions:
Ian Pendleton asks: “Is there any export from mainland China that
isn't a natural security threat? Anything at all?”
Nope. Even giant pandas are a national security threat.
Which is why everyone should hate them, like I do.
Thanks for your support and your question, Ian.
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Once again I’m Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.