‘Balloongate’ lays bare Chinese hypocrisy over military surveillance (Opinion)
This facility located at 41°46’46.04”N and 111°54’3.83”E in Inner Mongolia has been identified as the possible launch site of the balloon that crossed North America. (Image: Google Earth)
China pretends that it does not spy on others. The recent balloon saga showed up that it not only conducts surveillance of multiple countries, but that it is willing to violate their airspace to do so.
China is busy trying to re-inflate its reputation after its mysterious 60m-diameter spy balloon with approximately 1t payload was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on 4 February.
A spy balloon? Wait, surely not!
Despite all evidence to the contrary, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is sticking to its mantra that ‘the balloon in question is a Chinese unmanned civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research purposes’.
But it needs to get its story straight. Why would China say ‘mainly’ meteorological purposes instead of ‘only’?
More detail will hopefully be gleaned as the US recovers wreckage from a debris
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