Editorial: America’s Top Gun moment - taking down a Chinese spy balloon

The huge, high-altitude Chinese balloon that sailed across the US before being shot down on Sunday. Photo / AP

EDITORIAL

Back in 1960 a United States spy plane was brought down over the Soviet Union, which spurred a diplomatic incident that scuppered a summit between the Cold War rivals.

In the past few days, a blast of that chilly air returned, this time between the US and China over a suspected spy balloon said by the Pentagon to be surveilling sensitive American military sites.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called off a planned trip to China, aimed at stabilising relations, because of it.

On Sunday, the balloon was punctured by a missile fired from an F-22 Raptor jet fighter, off South Carolina, in a military flourish straight out of Top Gun.

In this cinematic triumph, it was as though there was actual danger at stake. Military equipment that Ukraine would like to have for a real war were used to destroy a balloon.

China claimed it was only a civilian airship blown off course. However, another balloon was spotted over Latin America.

Although the tense, competitive relationship between the US and China is no joke, there was a strong whiff of farce and theatre over this entire incident.

There were plenty of ‘’hot air’' references on social media, but the main political parties in the US used it to score points.

Some Republican politicians were demanding that it be shot down and accusing US President Joe Biden of being slow to act. Several posed for social media with their rifles pointing skywards. Officials said Biden gave the order last week but the Pentagon wanted to wait until the target was over water.

At least four spy balloons have flown over the US in recent years without being shot down, including during former president Donald Trump’s term. Democrats have enjoyed pointing out that Biden did what Trump didn’t. Beijing has tried to muster indignation even though the balloon was over US territory.

However, the US has its own balloon programme and it uses spy planes over the South China Sea.

Both countries have high-tech satellites, data spyware, spy planes and stealth drones. Balloons are said to be capable of lingering over a target and capturing better images.

The US concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give Beijing intelligence beyond what it could get from satellites. Andrew Antonio, of high-altitude balloon start-up Urban Sky, said the wind currents were least favourable in the winter, suggesting China may not have been targeting any specific area.

There was no actual threat to the public: The balloon was popped to make an expensive point about US power, and also so authorities could get a look at the debris.

The F-22 Raptor is a US$200 million plane and the missile fired costs US$380,000. Several airports were temporarily closed and a Navy salvage operation launched to find the fragments.

Perhaps China gained some insight from the flight on how the US would over-react to an over-hyped situation. Perhaps there is extra military paranoia about any flying object with the use of drones in Ukraine.

Perhaps it was an attempt to sabotage improving relations between the US and China. The timing is odd: Blinken was due to meet President Xi Jinping after China’s leader held talks with Biden last November.

It shows how heated rhetoric, mutual suspicion, competition for influence, trade wars and the pandemic have taken their toll in recent years.

Each country is each other’s political balloon. Progress on getting back to more normal ties is hard.