![]() Its first post: a call for a “whole of society mobilization” against espionage. A kindergarten in the eastern city of Tianjin organized a meeting to teach staffers how to “understand and use” China’s anti-espionage law.Ĭhina’s Ministry of State Security, a usually covert department that oversees the secret police and intelligence services, has even opened its first social media account, as part of what official news media described as an effort at increasing public engagement. And it wants its people to see them, too.Ĭhinese universities require faculty to take courses on protecting state secrets, even in departments like veterinary medicine. Representative Kevin McCarthy said before succeeding her this year that he would also like to visit the self-governing island, which China considers its territory.Beijing sees forces bent on weakening it everywhere: embedded in multinational companies, infiltrating social media, circling naïve students. Points of friction between Beijing and the US are becoming increasingly common.Ĭhina fired a barrage of missiles in the wake of last year’s visit to Taiwan by then Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The diplomatic push is a sign that the Biden administration intends to use the incident to rally its allies and convince them that China’s global ambitions could involve infringements of their own sovereignty.īeijing was angry over the US decision to shoot down the balloon, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry described as “excessive”.Ĭhina has maintained that the balloon was a civilian device used for meteorological purposes. The Biden administration has continued to declassify and share information it has learnt about the spy balloon, bringing in allied and partner nations for briefings about China’s surveillance programmes. ![]() When he cancelled the trip, Mr Blinken said the entry of the balloon was a “clear violation of US sovereignty and international law.” Some policymakers and lawmakers in Washington have been arguing for years that the US public has not taken the challenge of China seriously enough – prioritising the country’s cheap mobile phones and entertaining videos on its TikTok platform over concerns about an authoritarian state that bolsters its power through the intrusive surveillance of its people.īut the balloon ordeal was a big enough deal for the State Department to cancel Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned trip – the first by a Biden Cabinet secretary to Beijing – without rescheduling it. That said, the spy balloon incident will complicate the relationship between the two most powerful countries on earth. Nor is it comparable with the war in Ukraine that is set to enter into a second year. To be clear, the balloon saga is not comparable with an earthquake in Turkey that killed more than 20,000. ![]() Some classified reports suggest they are also using advanced technologies to collect information about the US military. Some officials say the spy balloon programme has been focused on the Pacific region, collecting information on US bases and allied military operations.Īnd of course, the Chinese do not just use balloons to conduct surveillance at military bases. Nevertheless, officials said, at the very least, the balloons can linger longer over a site than a satellite.Īnd while reconnaissance satellites are often focused on imagery, the balloons appear to be mostly about collecting communications. Was this part of a wider Chinese surveillance programme?Ĭhina has developed a spy balloon programme as a complement to its fleet of reconnaissance satellites, American officials said, with a mission to collect information across the world.īecause the capabilities of the spy balloons are not yet perfectly understood, it is not certain if they gather different information from China’s satellites.
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