BBC: Why Beijing might have wanted the US to track the spy balloon

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Why is Beijing using a spy balloon when it has satellites? “Beijing is probably trying to send a signal to Washington”

To the question of why China uses a spy balloon when it has satellites, the BBC tries to answer in its analysis, citing experts. In fact, the incident was announced a few 24 hours before the American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken travel to China to stabilize increasingly strained bilateral relations. According to the Wall Street Journal, the State Department summoned the Chinese ambassador to Washington to give a “very clear and unequivocal message” about the spy balloon.

”Beijing probably trying to transmit a signal in Washington: ‘While we want to improve ties, we are always ready for continued competition, using any means necessary’, without seriously igniting tensions”. “And what better tool for this than a seemingly harmless balloon,” analyst Hee Yuan Ming told the BBC.

Spy balloons are one of the oldest forms of surveillance technology. The Japanese military used them to drop incendiary bombs on the US during World War II. They were also widely used by the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

“They have other means of spying on American infrastructure or whatever information they wanted to get. The balloon was a ‘signal’ to the Americans, but they wanted to see how the Americans would react,” explained Dr Benjamin Ho at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Singapore.

Even China can wanted the US to locate the balloon.

“It is possible that detection was the goal. China may have used the balloon to demonstrate that it has a sophisticated technological capability to penetrate US airspace without risking a serious escalation. In this regard, a balloon is a very ideal choice,” he said.

Such balloons usually fly at 80,000-120,000 feet (24,000-37,000 meters), well above the altitude of commercial flights. The highest performing fighter jets usually do not fly above 65,000 feet (20,000 meters), although spy planes such as the U-2 have an upper operational limit of 80,000 feet or more (24,000 meters). They are much cheaper than spy planes, and can monitor a specific area for longer periods. They can also be used to enhance satellite observations.

At the same time, experts point out that the balloons can be equipped with modern technology, such as spy cameras and radar sensors, and there are some advantages to using balloons for surveillance – the main of which is that they are less expensive and easier to deploy than drones or satellites, while monitoring the target area for longer periods of time. A satellite’s motion, on the other hand, is limited by its orbit.

Although China has not admitted to using the balloon, Arthur Michel of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Relations says it is unlikely that anyone else was responsible. ”The [Υπουργείο Άμυνας των ΗΠΑ] probably wouldn’t say it’s a chinese balloon unless they have one fairly high degree of certainty that this is,” he explained.

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