Over the past few days, the "black swan" incident triggered by a "wandering balloon" has triggered continuous excitement and restlessness in American public opinion. Strange talk and absurd performances by politicians and the media from all walks of life have focused on revealing the three persistent diseases of American society.
▲ The "Wandering Balloon" incident has become the trigger for a new round of fierce fighting between the Democratic Republic and both parties in the United States.
One of the stubborn diseases
Anti-intellectualism is rampant.
Regarding this "wandering balloon", China has announced the carefully verified fact that the airship is of a civilian nature and entered U.S. airspace due to force majeure, which was purely an accidental accident. However, some American politicians and the media have always made a finalism, fanned the flames, and directed and acted in a farce without any factual basis.
▲ The general trajectory of "wandering balloons".
First of all, the mainstream media in the United States, which claim to be objective and professional, dug "Chinese spy balloons" without verification, repeatedly emphasizing balloons flying over sensitive areas such as U.S. Air Force bases and missile wing sites to collect information, exaggerating a panic atmosphere and provoking anti-China sentiment.
In addition, politicians have taken advantage of the topic, falsely claiming that "China has seriously violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States" and pretended to be a victim.
Many Americans are "fastly up." Where is the spy balloon now?" "Spy Balloon Tracker" and other entries have frequently appeared on Google's hot search, and the topics have dominated the list on Twitter for several days.
These arguments are neither against scientific common sense nor political logic. Whether it is necessity or effectiveness, it is impossible for China to use "wandering balloons" to scout the United States.
As we all know, using unmanned airships to spy on the enemy was a technical means of the last century. The U.S. military has also used strategic reconnaissance balloons to break into the airspace of other countries for photographic reconnaissance. For example, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before the operationalization of high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and spy satellites, the United States specially developed a series of strategic reconnaissance operations against the Soviet Union, but most of them were found and shot down by the Soviet army, and some balloons were captured by the Soviet Union to expose the United States internationally. The country's evil plan. This also confirms the sentence again. If the United States suspects that you have done something bad, it must have done it itself.
▲ During the Cold War, the U.S. military developed large spy balloons to spy Soviet intelligence.
From the perspective of performance, air-floating balloons rely on atmospheric circulation. The structure is very fragile, the flight speed is low, the trajectory is difficult to control, and it is often out of control in international practice. In addition, the balloon carrying equipment is limited, and even if it successfully flies to the target, it is difficult to achieve the ideal detection effect. In contrast, contemporary reconnaissance satellite technology is quite mature, capable of carrying out long-term transcontinental periodic ground reconnaissance, and the carrying capacity of instruments and equipment is far better than that of air balloons. Anyone can go to Google Earth and clearly see the search targets, including courtyard seats and even house number.
It is now the third decade of the 21st century, and China's "Wandering Earth" has been filmed in two. While calling China the "largest high-tech threat", some Americans believe that China surveillance and reconnaissance of the United States by "wandering balloons" is an unreliable means, which has to be said to be "divine logic".
▲ In February 2023, Zakaria, a well-known anchor of CNN, said bluntly on the program that although American politicians shouted that "China is spying on us", the United States "always been monitoring" China, and the United States has "the world's largest espionage".
Even former Montana Governor Schweizer (Democrat) admitted that if China uses satellites to observe the U.S. missile launch site, they can even see the rabbit next to the launch well. Other U.S. officials publicly said that the Pentagon did not think that the airship "will get more information than satellite images can collect".
It is precisely the United States that has been engaged in reconnaissance and surveillance of China. In 2016, the Chinese navy captured U.S. unmanned submarine aircraft in relevant waters in the South China Sea. In 2022, the number of U.S. military reconnaissance against China more than doubled that of more than a decade ago. The United States has also deployed a large number of warships in the South China Sea and frequently used the identification code of other civil aircraft. Such an America wants to label China as an "aggressor", which is an insult to the Chinese people.
▲ In December 2022, an American RC-135 aircraft deliberately approached the coast of South China and the Xisha Islands in Hainan. The southern theater of the Chinese People's Liberation Army organized air forces to follow and monitor it throughout the whole process.
Freezing three feet is not a day cold. The reason why a Chinese civil airship can trigger an anti-intelligent carnival in the United States is by no means accidental. Over the years, the poorer and richer in the United States, the lower education level of the people at the bottom, coupled with the "cocoon effect" in the information age algorithms and big data, have become an excellent ground for the breeding of anti-intellectualism.
Especially under the catalysis of the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-intellectualism in the United States has intensified. First, Trump advocated the injection of disinfectant to kill the virus, and then the priest went to the TV to "do" to drive out the epidemic, and there were ironic rumors that "there are 5G antenna hidden in masks" and "microchips in the vaccine".
▲ Video: In March 2020, American Reverend Copeland "judicated" the coronavirus on TV.
Once anti-intellectualism is linked to the Chinese issue, it is like adding a handful of dry fire to the fire. In fact, "Spy Balloon" is already the recent "China Spy Spy 2.0 version", which is more absurd. Just last month, a think tank called "OODA" called "OODA" in Washington, D.C., put forward the claim that "Chinese spy refrigerator", claiming that Chinese-made appliances can "send messages to Beijing" by embedding chips. As for the unprovoked slander of Chinese high-tech enterprises such as Huawei, the United States came even more.
What Americans really need to worry about is not the balloons coming from China, but the science and reason that drift further and farther away.
The second of stubborn diseases
Political and social polarization is torn apart
The "wandering balloon" incident is like a mirror, illumining the chaos in American politics. According to media reports, just after the incident broke out, the Democratic U.S. government deliberately diluted it. Biden refused to answer relevant questions at a White House press conference, and the Pentagon also said that the balloon would not pose a military or personal threat to the ground.
▲ In February 2023, Pentagon spokesman Ryder said at a press conference that balloons would not constitute a military or personal threat.
However, Republican politicians and right-wing media obviously don't want to miss such a good opportunity to both sit on the "China threat" and attack the Democrats. House Speaker McCarthy, who has just taken office, claimed that China's reconnaissance balloons openly ignore U.S. sovereignty, and the Biden administration must fight back. Former President Trump posted "Blow down the balloon" directly on social media. Former Secretary of State Pompeo shouted that the weakness of Biden's administration made China unscrupulous.
Right-wing media such as Fox News slandered China for "threatening the security of the United States" while blaming the Biden administration for "indulging China", and even linked the incident to the lifting of the ban on TikTok and the sale of strategic oil reserves to Chinese companies, clamorizing a tough response. So far, the "wandering balloon" has gone beyond ordinary diplomatic events and completely become a tool of American party struggle.
In recent years, political polarization in the United States has intensified, "denial politics" has become popular, and confrontational restrictions have become commonplace. Politicians in Washington only focus on personal self-interest and partisan interests, while vetoing opponents will strengthen their camp identity, and the strengthening of identity will quickly consolidate the support force. The two parties are obsessed with each other's "rejection" and fall into a vicious circle that is inextricable. As a result, social divisions must be amplified and justice and the rule of law are trampled.
▲ As the incident continues to ferment, the hype of "spy balloons" in the U.S. media has turned to domestic party disputes in the United States.
In the 2022 midterm elections, the Democratic Party lost its majority of seats in the House of Representatives, and the U.S. government fell into a "limme" dilemma and had to face the dilemma of being pinned and looked at people. Only by pandering to the domestic populist wave to ease its governance pressure.
As the 2024 general election approaches, the political antagonism and internal consumption in the United States are increasing day by day. "opposal for the sake of opposition" is bound to be popular. Any sensitive issue related to China may be used, exaggerated and amplified to become a target and incite confrontation between the two parties.
The dispute over Chinese balloons will eventually cool down, but the polarization and tearing of American politics and society may continue to heat up.
The third of stubborn diseases
"Political correctness" threatens Sino-US relations
The main contradiction of the "wandering balloon" incident lies not in balloons or monitoring, but in China.
Over the years, some American politicians have continuously used the "China threat theory" to poison public opinion, kidnap politics, and politics has worsened public opinion, and finally formed a strange circle of "political correctness" against China.
Washington has become a stage, and all problems can be dramatized, and "anti-China" has become the most familiar script for Washington politicians. In order to oppose China, they are used to being born out of nothing. Now there is a "balloon". Of course, if you get the treasure, there is a drama of inciting the "China threat" excitedly. Finally, under onlookers and live broadcasts, they use the most advanced military aircraft missiles to shoot down the balloon, pushing the plot to a climax.
▲ The deviation of the unmanned airship from the predetermined route was an accidental accident caused by force majeure, but it was deliberately hyped by American anti-China politicians. Comics | Liu Rui)
Some foreign media believe that this incident is a symbol of the fragility of Sino-US relations, which once again highlights the serious lack of mutual trust between the two countries. Worse than the lack of mutual trust, the U.S. government has become a "politically correct" puppet, has lost its professional, rational and calm ability to deal with China-related issues, and has never been able to recognize who is the biggest enemy of the United States. Today's United States is like a drunk driver. When he knows it should step on the brakes, he can only step on the accelerator to the end.
The question is, does the United States intend to build a "guardrail" for Sino-US relations in this way? How does the United States explain its various "espionage reconnaissance" activities around the world? Does the United States want China to treat the United States in the same manner and way?
In fact, China and the United States could have taken the right path of "mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation" and seek common development and benign competition. However, some Americans just can't see the stabilization and warming of Sino-US relations and obstruct it. They just want to give the "rationalists" the reputation of "weakness to China", force them into anti-China chariots, and defraud votes for themselves and their camps.
However, blindly advocating against China's "political correctness" will only lead the United States to ignore its most important tasks, exacerbate its internal and external policy deviation, and eventually plunge the United States into the "self-fulfilling prediction" of competition among major powers.
▲ The real intention of some anti-China politicians in the United States is obvious, which is to deliberately destroy Sino-US relations and reverse history.
Because anti-China is "politically correct", the space for U.S. policy towards China is getting smaller and smaller, and it can only choose between "hawks" and "extreme hawks". That's why the cooperation between China and the United States in a series of fields such as climate change and nuclear non-proliferation is almost suspended. Fearing China's technological development and strength overtake, the United States is hysterically forcing its allies to cut off key supply chains to China. As two major powers, China and the United States should cooperate and can cooperate a lot, but there is very little cooperation in reality, which cannot be said to be an unfortune and sadness.
Due to the "political correctness" of anti-China, the rift between the U.S. government and all sectors of society has widened. In 2018, the United States launched the infamous "China Action Plan", targeting Chinese researchers working in the United States and American scientists who have exchanges and cooperation with China, resulting in brain drain and hindering scientific research in the United States. In 2021, nearly 2,000 scholars from universities across the United States sent a letter to the Attorney General to question the plan, and more than 20 Asian groups demanded that the plan be stopped. The U.S. government has "decoupled" from China in the field of science and technology, especially trying to completely cut off all links between U.S. suppliers and Chinese high-tech companies such as Huawei, directly harming the economic interests of American enterprises and their own economic strength.
Bloomberg pointed out that the U.S. chip containment plan against China will only be counterproductive, and the first to suffer losses is the domestic semiconductor companies in the United States. It is estimated that the two companies of Colin Research and Applied Materials alone will lose more than $5 billion in the Chinese market in 2023.
Due to the "political correctness" of anti-China, the differences between the United States and its allies and partners have intensified. In terms of China policy, the United States requires allies to cooperate fully and engage in strategic competition with China without room for compromise. But few of the allies and partners of the United States agree that China is a "life-and-death threat".
The editorial board of Australia's East Asia Forum said that the United States continues to expand its scientific and technological war and economic war with China, contrary to its commitment not to force countries to stand in line. U.S. Foreign Policy magazine quoted Rui Xiaojian, a former U.S. ambassador to China, as saying that the U.S. policy towards China does not fully take into account the huge common economic interests of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and these countries are unwilling to stand between China and the United States, or even have confidence in the United States. In the eyes of many countries, the "instinctive hostility" of the United States towards China increases the risk of conflict, which will harm the interests of all countries.
▲ In January 2023, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, said at a dialogue meeting in Australia that China's rise was a "major victory for the world".
In response, Bill Gates said, "My confirmation is that the current way the United States thinks about China is a double loss mentality, and the response it receives does confirm this idea."
▲ The great unity of the Chinese people, united and joys and sorrows, will definitely overcome the stormy waves they will face in the future.
In the spring of 2023, a "wandering balloon" made the Chinese people see more about the difficulties and dangers of the Sino-US game. The United States has made it clear that it will "win" China in the next 10 years. It is foreseeable that China will face more high winds, waves and even stormy waves. However, the Chinese people never believe in evil or ghosts. There is no reason to be afraid of the United States, which has gathered into a fire. If we can't kill us, we will only make us stronger. China never bets that the United States will lose, and the United States must not bet that China will lose.
China, keep coming up!