Wang Yi, the Chinese communist regime’s top diplomat, called the United States’ shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon “absurd and hysterical” at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 18 when he met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The Chinese balloon breached U.S. airspace flying across the country at the end of January and was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean by the U.S. military at the beginning of February. The incident escalated the tension between the two countries. In response, Blinken postponed his planned visit to China.
The Chinese regime has continued to claim that the balloon was for civilian use and blew off course to the airspace of the United States. But Washington said it was clearly a surveillance balloon, with electronics mounted on its massive chassis.
A Political Show
Wang Juntao, chairman of the National Committee of China Democracy Party, said of Wang Yi’s strong remarks, “I think he is out of words now to justify the incident, and he is just putting on a political show.”Wang Juntao said Wang Yi isn’t the one in charge, and any decision won’t be made until the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) head Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden talk on the phone.
“Wang Yi came [to the Munich Security Conference] prepared, nevertheless, I think he was to create some opportunities for Xi. If Xi softens his stance with the United States now, the United States may really look down on him. Now he let Wang Yi challenge the United States to make things difficult for them.”
Wang Juntao has a research background in weather balloons. He told The Epoch Times that more accurate data on China’s meteorology are in the hands of the CCP’s military, and they’re classified as so-called national strategic resources. “The better instruments are also in the hands of the military. So even if it is a weather balloon, it has the capability to fly outside China and cross the whole United States, it must belong to the military, not civilians.”
Fan Shih-Ping, a professor at the Department of East Asian Studies at National Taiwan Normal University, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 19 that Blinken’s planned visit to Beijing should have been regarded as an opportunity to improve U.S.–China relations, “but because of the balloon incident, the United States has greatly increased concerns and doubts about the CCP. Now, the mutual trust between the United States and China is on the verge of bankruptcy.”
He believes that the CCP originally hoped that U.S.–China relations would be in a better state before its top political meeting in March. But now, its expectations have fallen short, so it blames the United States. Fan said CCP leaders are frustrated and angry.
The political meeting usually leads to a reshuffling of the CCP’s top political circle.
“The general public in the United States may have thought that the [CCP] threat theory was a bit exaggerated. But judging from this balloon incident, they have started to feel that the threat of [the CCP] to the United States does exist," Fan said.
Top Officials Visits
The Pentagon’s top China official, Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, paid a rare visit to Taiwan on Feb. 17 following the shooting down of the Chinese spy balloon.A congressional delegation led by U.S. Representative Ro Khanna visited Taiwan from Feb. 19 to Feb. 23.
Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu made a rare visit to Washington, meeting with White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Feb. 21.
