Chinese Balloon shot down over American territory

A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon found off of the South Carolina coast was shot down on Saturday, February 4th, as announced by the Department of Defense [1]. President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon “as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path,” per the Department of Defense [4]. The U.S. military found that the balloon had to be taken down over water, as doing so over land posed a risk to American lives [4]. The operation was done with the support of the Canadian government [4]. The Pentagon has accused China of using the balloon to collect information on U.S. military sites [2]. The balloon that was recovered appeared to be designed to listen and geolocate Americans’ converstaions [3]. The tension between the two nations have increased due to the Pentagon’s accusation. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the shooting down of the ballon an “obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice,” [4]. The balloon from the PRC has been interpreted as an unacceptable violation of the United States’ sovereignty, that threatened the safety and security of the American people [4]. In the last week, the U.S. Military has shot down it’s fourth airborn object [5]. Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command stated that the Feb 4. Object was clearly a balloon, but that the most recent unidentified objects shot down are objects, not balloons {5]. The surveillience balloon shot down and potenitally other objects are representative of a declining relationship with China, and China’s aggressiveness to enter other countries airspace with the intention to spy. The focus will now be on how the United States will choose to respond.