The scope of Beijing’s high-tech balloon program

There will no doubt be some tension in the boardrooms of Western tech companies in the coming days after the Chinese spy balloon was shot down after crossing the United States. The discovery was included in intelligence briefings to US lawmakers and is expected to lead to further scrutiny of the sale of advanced ‘dual-use’ technology to China.

Investigators continued efforts to recover the wreckage of the balloon and the tracking kit it was carrying in shallow waters off the coast of South Carolina, but they found the craft to be part of a Chinese military-operated warship with electronic sniffer sensors. relationships. The targets may include information transmitted between U.S. bases and locations, as well as between those sites and U.S. satellites. Officials say the balloon’s only tracking device is the size of a regional jet, with solar panels capable of powering ‘multiple active intelligence-gathering sensors’ and data will be relayed to Chinese satellites in real time.

President Biden faced heavy criticism for allowing the balloon to cross the United States before launching it, but now it’s clear that one of the reasons — besides fear of falling debris — is seeing the 60-meter-tall balloon in action. . Officials provided high-resolution images from U-2 surveillance planes that monitored the balloon. They also explained that other security measures have been taken to prevent the balloon from collecting data.

Authorities had been tracking the balloon well before it entered US airspace and was seen rolling over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, carrying more than 100 nuclear-capable Minuteman three intercontinental ballistic missiles.

On Friday, Joe Biden ordered the military to shoot down another ‘high-altitude object’ near Alaska, although the White House would not confirm if it was another Chinese spy balloon. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the incident ‘poses a reasonable threat to the safety of civil aviation.’ US officials say at least five Chinese spy balloons have previously crossed US territory – two during the Biden administration and three while Donald Trump was in the White House. But they tried to portray the raid as part of an international surveillance effort by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force – Chinese spy balloons have infiltrated the sovereignty of more than 40 countries on five continents. In an effort to maximize diplomatic capacity, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman briefed dozens of Washington-based diplomats this week and sent information to US embassies to share with allies.

Spy balloons are no longer the stealthy vehicles of yesteryear, and China’s research efforts are at the forefront of what it calls ‘lighter than air vehicles’. Officials said that the program operates from several sites in China. Satellite images published by the military-focused “War Zone” website show large hangar-like facilities in the country’s western Xinjiang province, which it says are part of the secret program. Chinese academic papers describe the ‘stratosphere airship’ test, and a team from China’s National Defense Technology University is studying developments in balloons. China says high-altitude balloons can be used as platforms to launch rockets and drones. In the year As of 2018, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that the high-altitude balloon began testing hypersonic missiles. Video footage posted at the time showing a missile ballooning from a missile over the United States has now been deleted. A 2020 article in the People’s Liberation Army Daily described near-space as ‘a new battlefield in modern warfare’.

China’s persistent ballooning of an off-course fair-weather balloon — an ‘unintended and unexpected entry of a Chinese civilian aircraft into US airspace’, as Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning put it this week — is getting worse and worse. Ning also backpedaled, saying that ‘US aircraft and warships frequently conduct close reconnaissance around China, which seriously threatens China’s national security and harms regional peace and stability.’ But there is a difference between missions in international airspace or waters close to China and significant violations of the balloon’s sovereignty.

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The collapse of the spy balloon may be just beginning. Investigators from several U.S. intelligence agencies will be probing the debris on the balloon, and Washington will no doubt relish Beijing’s embarrassment as more details of the extra regulatory charge emerge in the coming days. Chinese companies and institutions that have contributed technology and know-how to the balloon program will be closely monitored. Whether civilian or commercial technology should be brought to the military sheds more light on China’s policy of military-civilian integration. No doubt more sanctions and possibly criminal charges are being prepared by the US Department of Justice. The relationship between Western technology companies and China will be more controlled, technology restrictions will be strengthened.

The balloon case is a gift to those in Washington who are impatient with the size and scope of China’s intelligence collection – its attempts to obtain as much information and technical expertise as possible, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray, the biggest long-term threat to our economy and national security. It’s amazing to think that when they were supposed to visit and meet Xi Jinping, there was some talk of resumption of ties, China pushing for some relief from sanctions limiting its access to advanced Western technology. That was always wishful thinking. Now those hopes have been quickly dashed with the spy balloon. And Xi has only himself to blame.