Chinese Balloon Shows US, NATO Needs to ‘Step Up’ Protection Against Beijing: NATO Chief

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gestures during a news conference at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels on July 5, 2022. (Yves Herman/Reuters)

The Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the United States last week “confirms a pattern of Chinese behavior” and shows that the United States needs to be aware of the constant risk of CCP intelligence, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg made the remarks during a press availability on Feb. 8, where he said the behavior confirms that China has heavily invested in new military capabilities, including surveillance.

Referencing the balloon—that was shot down by an F-22 fighter jet on Feb. 4—Stoltenberg said it confirms a pattern of Chinese behavior, “where we see that China over the last years has invested heavily in new military capabilities, including different types of surveillance and intelligence platforms.”

“And we’ve also seen increased Chinese intelligence activities in Europe—again, different platforms. They use satellites, they use cyber, and as we’ve seen over the United States, also balloons,” he said.

“So, we just have to be vigilant. We need to be aware of the constant risk of Chinese intelligence, and then step up what we do to protect ourselves.  And we need also to react in a prudent, responsible, and vigilant way, as we have seen the United States has reacted to this specific balloon over North America and the United States,” Stoltenberg said.

China Bolstering Military Forces, Nuclear Weapons

The NATO Secretary General also said that the balloon incident highlights that security is “not regional” but “global,” adding: “What happens in Asia matters for Europe, and what happens in Europe matters for Asia and also, of course, for North America.”

He said he visited East Asian countries including Japan and South Korea last week, and that those nations had stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation with NATO and its partners in the Indo-Pacific to counter the “challenges” that China poses to “our values, and to our interests.”

Stoltenberg also pointed to China’s substantial bolstering of its military forces, including nuclear weapons “without any transparency,” and it’s deepening strategic partnership with Russia.

Stoltenberg appeared alongside Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken at the press availability. Last week, a senior State Department official told reporters thank Blinken is postponing a planned trip to China following the downing of the surveillance balloon.

The Biden administration has confirmed that the balloon flew over sensitive military sites as it drifted across America but has not yet revealed exactly which sites they were.

Biden Says China Spy Balloon ‘Not a Major Breach’

Meanwhile, officials in Beijing have claimed that the balloon was a civilian meteorological balloon that had been blown off course due to the weather and inadvertently flew over sensitive military sights.

Despite the fact that the balloon traversed over the sensitive U.S. sites, and amid mounting criticism from Republican lawmakers over the government’s delayed response in bringing it down, President Joe Biden on Thursday said he has no regrets that it wasn’t bought down sooner, citing possible damage to people or structures in the area.

“This thing was gigantic. What happened if it came down and hit a school in a rural area? What happened if it came down? So I told them as soon as they could shoot it down, shoot it down. They made a wise decision. They shot it down over water, they’re recovering most of the parts, and they’re good,” Biden said during an interview with Noticias Telemundo, referring to concerns among the Intelligence Community.

However, Biden appeared to downplay the incident.

“The total amount of intelligence gathering that’s going on with every country around the world is overwhelming. And the idea that a balloon could traverse … break American airspace is … anyway, it’s not a major breach,” Biden added.

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard are still working on recovering parts of the spy balloon, which was shot down roughly six miles off the coast of South Carolina.

Caden Pearson contributed to this report.