Tag: Biden, Joseph R Jr

China Says U.S. Balloons Entered Its Airspace Over 10 Times Since 2022

Chin@Strategy

In the latest jab over aerial surveillance, China said on Monday that high-altitude balloons from the United States had flown over Chinese airspace without permission more than 10 times since the start of last year. Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesman, said that it was a “common occurrence” for U.S. high-altitude balloons to “illegally enter the airspace of other countries,” while providing no further details. China’s claims were swiftly rejected by the United States. “Any claim that the U.S. government operates surveillance balloons over the P.R.C. is false,” said Adrienne…

Chinese Balloon Had Tools to Collect Communications Signals, U.S. Says

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — The Chinese spy balloon shot down by the U.S. military over the Atlantic Ocean was capable of collecting communications signals and was part of a fleet of surveillance balloons directed by the Chinese military that had flown over more than 40 countries across five continents, the State Department said Thursday. The United States used high resolution imagery from U-2 flybys to determine the balloon’s capabilities, the department said in a written announcement, adding that the balloon’s equipment “was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment onboard…

U.S. Aims to Curb Investment in China Amid Security Concerns

Chin@Strategy

Others say that China has access to plenty of other sources of funding worldwide, and that cutting off access would prevent U.S. companies from benefiting from Chinese innovations. “Getting the details right on outbound investment screening is easier said than done,” said Rory Murphy, the vice president of government affairs for the U.S.-China Business Council. “These are technical and complicated sectors, and the details are critical.” He added that his group wanted to “help policymakers thread the needle of achieving their national security objectives while not going too broad and…

For a President Who Spends His Days Confronting Russia and China, a Domestic Focus

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — When President Biden delivered his State of the Union address a year ago, war had broken out in Europe just days before and it appeared inevitable that Vladimir V. Putin would quickly take control of Ukraine. China, the Pentagon kept repeating, was America’s “pacing” challenge, a long-term technological and financial competitor, but not likely not to pose an imminent challenge to Taiwan or the United States. On Tuesday night Mr. Biden faced a changed world. Simultaneously managing an aggressive Russia and a risk-taking China may prove the greatest…

After Spy Balloon Clash, U.S.-China Tensions Loom Over Biden’s Speech

Chin@Strategy

While Russia’s war in Ukraine presents a more urgent day-to-day foreign policy issue for President Biden and his aides, they have said repeatedly that China is the greatest long-term challenger to American power — even as the two countries maintain robust trade ties. The spy balloon episode that unfolded in the skies above the United States last week and a resulting surge in diplomatic tensions have underscored that. Many of the Democratic and Republican lawmakers who will be in the chamber when Mr. Biden delivers his State of the Union…

China’s Balloon Dispute Aims Attention at Xi’s Leadership

Chin@Strategy

The Chinese balloon that bumbled its way across the United States has launched a thousand questions about its real intent. But it is also focusing the world’s attention on the prospect that the communications and control within Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government and his vaunted security apparatus may be less coherent — or even less functional — than the image he so confidently projects. The stakes today are high. Relations between Washington and Beijing have frayed, and competition between the two sides has intensified, fueling fears that the wrong move…

Navy Divers Work to Recover Debris From Chinese Spy Balloon

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — Navy divers were working to locate portions of the debris from the Chinese spy balloon that a U.S. fighter jet shot down six miles off the coast of South Carolina, defense officials said on Sunday. The recovery effort, which is expected to take days, began not long after debris from the balloon hit the water, a defense official said. He added that a Navy ship arrived on the scene soon after the balloon was shot down, and that other Navy and Coast Guard ships, which had been put…

China Finds Itself With Limited Options After U.S. Shoots Down Balloon

Chin@Strategy

After an American fighter jet shot down the Chinese balloon that had floated across the United States, the reaction from Beijing — defensive, angered, yet hedging its options — illustrated the challenges facing China’s leader, Xi Jinping, as he tries to stabilize relations while giving little, if any, ground. Hours after the balloon was struck by a Sidewinder missile and crumpled into the waters off South Carolina, the Chinese foreign ministry declared its “strong discontent and protest” and doubled down on its position that the balloon was a civilian research…

Chinese Spy Balloon or ‘Civilian Device’?

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — American military officials on Thursday said they had detected a “high-altitude surveillance balloon” launched by China floating in the skies of Montana, causing a diplomatic panic that led Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to postpone a planned trip to Beijing. On Friday, Chinese officials declared that the floating orb was a “mainly meteorological” balloon and described its drift into American airspace as caused by “force majeure” — forces beyond a party’s control, which cannot be considered a violation. The development comes months after President Biden and President…

Military Deal With Philippines Signals U.S. Aim to Defend Taiwan

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — President Biden and his aides have tried to reassure Chinese leaders that they do not seek to contain China in the same way the Americans did with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But the announcement on Thursday that the U.S. military is expanding its presence in the Philippines leaves little doubt that the United States is positioning itself to constrain China’s armed forces and bolstering its ability to defend Taiwan. The announcement, made in Manila by Lloyd J. Austin III, the U.S. defense secretary, was only…