By Caitlin Doornbos, Marco Trujillo; Edited by News Gate Team
WATERLOO – According to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, the US has expressed its concerns to Chinese officials regarding Beijing’s recent deployment of a surveillance balloon into American airspace. However, the rival military are still unable to communicate with one another.
“We continue to maintain diplomatic ties with China. It’s not like all communication between us and the PRC has stopped, Kirby said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. We still have an embassy there. It’s sad that some vehicles, such as military-to-military vehicles, aren’t available to us at the moment.
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Those military channels include a deconfliction phone line, meant to offer the two nations a way to talk through potential misunderstandings. However, attempts by the US to use the line have gone unanswered in the latest crisis between the two powers.
However, since President Biden on February 4 ordered an F-22 fighter jet to shoot down the surveillance balloon that had spent a week flying through US airspace, Chinese and US military leaders have not spoken despite Kirby’s claim that Washington has used diplomatic channels to discuss its concerns with Beijing “in private setting.”
Washington has not given up trying, as evidenced by the silence: Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said last week that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had asked for a contact with Chinese Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe “soon after taking action to drop the PRC balloon,” but Beijing had refused to let them speak.
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Since President Biden gave the order for an F-22 fighter plane to shoot the balloon down on February 4, military officials from the US and China have not talked. Photography by Tyler Schlitt
Following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) visit to Taiwan in August, despite warnings from the Biden administration, Beijing virtually stopped military communications with the US.
Despite the slight, Ryder said the Pentagon would keep pushing for communication between the armed forces to avoid misunderstandings that can raise tensions.
“We think it’s crucial to keep the channels of communication between the US and the PRC open in order to handle the relationship responsibly. In situations like this, the lines between our military are especially crucial, he remarked. “We remain committed to maintaining open lines of communication.”
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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin requested a call with Chinese Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe “immediately after taking action to down the PRC balloon.”AP
Communication is particularly important as the Pentagon continued to track and shoot down as many as three additional unidentified objects in the air over the week. It remains unclear whether the objects were balloons or where they came from, but recovery efforts are underway, Kirby said.
The truth is that the three that were closed on Friday, Saturday, and yesterday haven’t been accessible to us, in large part due of the weather, Kirby said. We’ll do everything in our power to recover them. The third one yesterday was shot down over Lake Huron, so it’s underwater.
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A Chinese spy blimp carried antennae and other materials for gathering intelligence.
Kirby said that since research organizations and geolocating businesses are known to use unmanned objects, it is probable that the most recent objects were not the result of malicious intent.
He remarked, “There could be entirely innocuous and entirely comprehensible reasons for why these items are flying around up there. “These kinds of operations are carried out by corporate companies, as well as by academic research organizations.”
We simply don’t know, but as soon as we can obtain the debris and learn more, we will without a doubt disclose all we can.
Beijing continues to deny that the balloon two weeks ago was being used for surveillance, first insisting it was a weather balloon blown off course and later referring to it as a “civilian airship” whose downing was “an abuse of the use of force and overreaction,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday.
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Navy divers continue to work to recover the remains and payload of the first downed balloon.FBI via REUTERS
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Agents of the FBI examine the material taken from the high-altitude balloon found off the coast of South Carolina. AP
The unintentional entry of a Chinese civilian unmanned blimp into US airspace, Wang claimed, is a wholly unforeseen, singular event brought on by force majeure. “We have made it plain numerous times,” Wang said. “The US shooting down of the airship was an overreaction and abuse of power. We vehemently disagree with that.
In recent days, China has also engaged in a PR onslaught, most recently claiming during a news conference on Monday that the US has sent more than ten high-altitude balloons into its territory in the previous year.
Kirby and Adrienne Watson, another NSC spokesperson, refuted the accusations, stating that it is untrue to say that the US government uses surveillance balloons to monitor China.
Watson said that China was responsible for the People’s Liberation Army’s high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence gathering, which was employed to violate the sovereignty of the US and more than 40 other nations across five continents.
By Caitlin Doornbos, Marco Trujillo; Edited by News Gate Team
