An alleged Chinese spy balloon that traversed the US had western-made components with English-language writing on them, members of Congress were told on Capitol Hill Thursday, people familiar with the matter said.
I think the most likely scenario is that China intentionally flew a regular weather balloon with bunch of western tech in it knowing precisely how US would react.
That’s impossible because weather balloons aren’t steerable. There was just an unusual wind. If it was really a spy balloon, the US also wouldn’t have quietly allowed it to fly over Alaska and Canada.
You can’t send a balloon with any degree of accuracy, hence why the spy claims are ridiculous. However, you can send it in the air streams that have predictable patterns due to Earth rotating. So you can put a balloon up in the upper atmosphere and have it drift around the world with high likelihood of eventually making it over some part of US. Incidentally, US did this themselves to China back in the 50s https://theintercept.com/2023/02/07/china-balloon-soviet-union/
Another reason China wouldn’t send a spy balloon is that US obviously has the capability to shoot the balloon down and would almost certainly do so. China wouldn’t want to give US access to any actual spy tech and learn their capabilities.
However, you can send it in the air streams that have predictable patterns due to Earth rotating. So you can put a balloon up in the upper atmosphere and have it drift around the world with high likelihood of eventually making it over some part of US.
The Moon of Alabama article mentioned a polar vortex that led to difficult to predict effects on the balloon’s float path. Before being set off course by the vortex, it seemed like the balloon would keep floating over Canada without touching the continental United States.
It is of course absolutely possible that this was just a random fluke. However, the fact that it happened just as Blinken invited himself to China seems a bit too much of a coincidence.
That’s impossible because weather balloons aren’t steerable. There was just an unusual wind. If it was really a spy balloon, the US also wouldn’t have quietly allowed it to fly over Alaska and Canada.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/02/nyt-plants-false-claims-over-chinas-balloon-communication.html
You can’t send a balloon with any degree of accuracy, hence why the spy claims are ridiculous. However, you can send it in the air streams that have predictable patterns due to Earth rotating. So you can put a balloon up in the upper atmosphere and have it drift around the world with high likelihood of eventually making it over some part of US. Incidentally, US did this themselves to China back in the 50s https://theintercept.com/2023/02/07/china-balloon-soviet-union/
Another reason China wouldn’t send a spy balloon is that US obviously has the capability to shoot the balloon down and would almost certainly do so. China wouldn’t want to give US access to any actual spy tech and learn their capabilities.
The Moon of Alabama article mentioned a polar vortex that led to difficult to predict effects on the balloon’s float path. Before being set off course by the vortex, it seemed like the balloon would keep floating over Canada without touching the continental United States.
It is of course absolutely possible that this was just a random fluke. However, the fact that it happened just as Blinken invited himself to China seems a bit too much of a coincidence.