Under the unbridled criticism of the Republicans and other vociferous Chinese-detractors, experts warn that China-U.S. relations will become more competitive and conflict-driven because of U.S. misconceptions.
“While U.S. officials and the media continue their hype over the unmanned Chinese airship for civilian use in an attempt to accuse the Chinese side of refusing to communicate, the Chinese Foreign Ministry emphasized on Wednesday that any attempt to exaggerate or hype up the ‘China threat’ will be detrimental to building mutual trust between the two countries. When it comes to the question about whether there are still effective communication and crisis management channels between the two sides, it also depends on the U.S., not China, Chinese experts said.
Chargé d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. Xu Xueyuan on Tuesday local time lodged, upon instruction, stern representations with senior officials of the U.S. Department of State and White House National Security Council on the U.S. attack on a Chinese unmanned civilian airship by force.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng on Sunday lodged a solemn representation to the U.S. Embassy in China over the U.S. shooting down the airship on Saturday.
U.S. navy divers began pulling pieces of the airship from the depths of the ocean floor on Tuesday, the AP reported. U.S. counterintelligence teams hope to learn more about the sensors and other equipment on the remnants of the airship, the media report said.
Despite China has repeatedly shared information on the unintended entry of the unmanned Chinese civilian airship into U.S. airspace, the U.S. not only went ahead with the use of force to take down the airship but has also continued hyping the incident, creating more obstacles for bilateral relations that were already strained over numerous issues, including the U.S. high-tech crackdown on China and the Taiwan question.
The Pentagon claimed on Tuesday that ‘China declined a U.S. request for a secure call’ between Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart after the airship was downed, U.S. media reported.
U.S. intelligence also linked the civilian balloon to a surveillance program run by the Chinese People's Liberation Army, according to the Washington Post. U.S. officials have also been briefing allies and partners over the incident, media reported.
Commenting on the reported briefings, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said ‘It's a matter for the U.S. itself and I don't want to comment on that. But I hope the U.S. will communicate with other countries based on facts’.
The U.S.' downing of the unmanned Chinese civilian airship by force is unacceptable and irresponsible. China has lodged a stern protest. Exaggerating or hyping up the ‘China threat’ narrative is not conducive to building trust or improving ties between our two countries, nor can it make the U.S. safer, Mao said.
The accusations by the U.S. that China has rejected communication are untrue, Chinese observers argued, as China repeatedly told the U.S. that the entry of the airship into U.S. airspace was unintended. Also, as the unmanned airship is found to be a civilian airship used for mainly meteorological research purposes, it would be meaningless for the Chinese military to communicate with the Pentagon as the matter does not involve U.S. security or defense issues.
Although China repeatedly informed the U.S. about the situation, the U.S. insisted on taking arbitrary, irrational and destructive actions, which are irresponsible, Lü Xiang, an expert on U.S. studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
The U.S. has a contradictory attitude on this issue. On the one hand, it admitted that the balloon poses no threat to the U.S., but on the other hand, it destroyed it by force, Lü said. ‘Maybe the U.S. wants to steal some Chinese technologies if they refuse to return the remnants’, he said.
Some Chinese analysts believe that such a high-altitude balloon is equipped with cutting-edge technologies in terms of material, which the U.S. may not have mastered”. -Chen Qingqing and Xu Yelu, Global Times
As tension between China and the United States became exacerbated due to the overreaction in shooting down a supposedly Chinese aerial vehicle, it appears as though China has followed Russia’s lead in determining that the United States is fallible.
The Sino-Russian alliance is perceivably stronger than ever before. And, with the U.S. military currently involved in an armed conflict against Russia, the Chinese have by now almost certainly surpassed parity with U.S. air and sea forces in the South China Sea.
This means that not only is U.S. military dominance likely to be challenged at greater distances from China’s coast in the upcoming future, but in order for the United States to precisely anticipate the future developments in Chinese military capabilities, the U.S. cannot allow itself to let "balloon-gate" further complicate U.S.-China relations and jeopardize bilateral diplomacy.