The Chinese balloon sighted on February 1 prompted the United States to be more vigilant in examining objects flying in its airspace at low speeds. Since then, four planes have been destroyed, including this famous balloon accused by Washington of being used for espionage. CHASE DOAK / AFP
Since early February, the discovery of high-altitude aerostats over American soil has caused a diplomatic crisis between the United States and China. Several devices have been observed and shot down, but they vary in shape and texture, fueling many questions and fantasies.
How many flying machines have been identified?
Since the discovery of a suspicious balloon over American territory, four planes have been reported and shot down by the United States. In detail :
How do you look?
The first balloon-shaped object sighted on February 1st was 60 meters tall – the equivalent of three buses. Covered with several solar panels, it carried a nacelle that weighed more than a ton. He is the only one whose membership in China is approved by both countries.
The three following objects were much smaller than the first and flew at lower altitudes. They were shot down after air surveillance was stepped up. The second and third were about the size of a small car, the third was cylindrical, and the fourth was octagonal. At this time there is no evidence that they have any connection with the Chinese Ball.
Why do Americans blame China?
According to the United States, the first aerostat, the giant balloon, was used to gather strategic intelligence about American infrastructure. It actually had many antennas, which the White House says it “is likely capable of collecting and locating communications.”
On Wednesday, February 8, Washington accused Beijing of operating a “balloon fleet for espionage operations” on five continents. Washington blacklisted one of the branches of CETC (China Electronics Technology Group), a state-owned company that makes surveillance and intelligence equipment, particularly spy balloons, from companies banned from trading with the United States, Bloomberg reports. The United States had already blacklisted several of its divisions.
What is China saying?
According to Beijing, the balloon was a weather device that accidentally deviated from its intended route, and the Americans “overreacted”. Beijing then took a more accusatory stance. “In the past year alone, American balloons have flown overhead [le territoire de] China on more than 10 occasions without permission,” affirmed a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy Wang Wenbin, quoted by AFP, on Monday, February 13. The United States has denied these allegations.
Denials from both countries leave experts skeptical. “We know that the United States is the biggest spy power in the world,” recalls Marc Julienne, a researcher at France’s Institute for International Relations (IFRI). Which should not obscure the fact that China is moving very quickly in the field of intelligence, be it from a human or technological point of view, as we can see from this ball. »
How have other countries reacted?
Other Washington allies have expressed concern, even a determination to act. Taiwan, which has complained of frequent overflights by “Chinese drones,” has said it reserves the right to shoot down these “new threats,” the Defense Ministry spokesman said Monday, February 13, quoted by AFP.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced that “the UK and its allies will examine what these airstrikes mean for their security”, while British Transport Secretary Richard Holden described China as an “enemy state”. »
What are the other three machines shot down?
A certain mystery surrounds the three aerostats that have been sighted in the past few days. Upon review, US officials admitted they did not raise any safety concerns other than the risk of a collision with an airliner. Otherwise, caution remains. “We don’t know who owns it, whether it’s a state, a company or an individual. […]. And we don’t understand its usefulness at this time,” a White House spokesman said.
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One reason is the condition of the devices. Not all the rubble has been recovered yet. The third plane, for example, crashed in the frozen waters of Alaska. US and Canadian forces have planned to work together to try to recover the fourth that crashed in the Yukon, northwestern Canada, for analysis.
Also read: Article reserved for our subscribers The White House is not very talkative about the flying objects shot down in American and Canadian skies
Is it true that the hypothesis of an extraterrestrial spaceship has been put forward?
Asked about the possibility that these objects were sent by extraterrestrials, US Aerospace Forces commander, General Glen Van Herck, soberly stated “he’s not ruling anything out at this point.” This very open reaction unleashed the imagination. Silvano Trotta, an influential conspiracy theorist, was pleased that “media like the Berliner Zeitung are reporting on an alien invasion”. However, the Berliner Tageszeitung only conjures up the rumors in the social networks without accrediting this thesis. Similarly, the Trump Fact News account writes that, according to CNN, the spacecraft shot down over Alaska “could possibly have been an alien spacecraft.” However, the American journalist Natasha Bertrand, a specialist in national security, notes with satisfaction that “the pilots do not agree on what they saw”.
In reality, the American Aerospace Forces’ very open response is designed primarily to avoid mistakes. When asked about a possible extraterrestrial origin, “we either pretend to be a fanatic, or we blame superpowers like Russia or China without any evidence,” notes Marc Julienne, and from a diplomatic point of view this has devastating consequences.”
Nonetheless, amid the excitement, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday, February 13, that American authorities had “no evidence of extraterrestrial activity or extraterrestrial activity.”
What does international law say about the situation?
The Chinese balloon crisis raises several questions: air sovereignty, the use of identified devices, and the proportionality of the American response.
The first point is the least controversial: for Vincent Correia, professor of public law at Paris-Saclay University, there is “no doubt” that the Chinese airship was on American territory. According to Article 1 of the Chicago Convention, which governs international civil aviation, each State has “complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace over its territory”. The Chinese balloon hovered at an altitude of 18 kilometers, but the airspace has no explicit vertical limit.
However, their use is more sensitive. “The law is finely crafted: we must allow civil aircraft through its territory, but no military aircraft,” explains William Woll, a lawyer in Paris and Metz, a specialist in international law. It is still necessary to know the type of device. Between the civilian and the military is also the gray area of espionage, which no international treaty prohibits, except when accompanied by a violation of territorial sovereignty, as is the case with the Chinese balloon.
There remains the question of proportionality, which worries the lawyers the most. “The destruction as such participates in the destruction of the evidence; How to show that it is a spy device? asks Vincent Correia. He conjures up a “rather severe and brutal approach” to the concept of sovereignty, particularly convincing in the case of the following three machines. “There is a whole color map before the destruction,” William Woll points out: So the United States could have tried to intercept the device instead of shooting it down.
However, there is little chance that the United States and China will find themselves before an international court: neither Washington nor Beijing have ratified international treaties that could subject them to a legal battle.
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