What’s with this Chinese Balloon I keep hearing about?

Around February 4th what is believed to be a Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the US government over the Atlantic Ocean according to ABC News. The article by ABC news states that one official says it reaches around 30-feet-long and another says due to the rough waters investigation was suspended to Monday. In order to keep track of the balloon several pinging devices and weights have been applied to the balloon. While some some aren’t 100% percent sure, a State Department Official has said “It had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications. It was equipped with solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors.” Who knows what the Chinese government was planning on doing with that type of technology, whatever it is it couldn’t be anything good

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On the the other side of things, as reported by CNN, after China was called out for the balloon Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin states that it isn’t uncommon for “US balloons to illegally enter other countries’ airspace.” In order to back up his claim he has also said “Since last year alone, American high-altitude balloons have illegally crossed China’s airspace more than 10 times without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities.” Also according to CNN, the White House has denied the claims and has said they are likely an attempt at damage control on the part of the Chinese. Perhaps they had found something important and they don’t want the US to find out what information they’ve managed to gather. Based on the article on CNN the US Commerce Department has added 6 Chinese companies related to the Chinese Military’s aerospace program to the Entity list meaning, those companies can no longer acquire US technology without the approval of the US Government. In response to decision made by the US Government Wang has said, “China is strongly dissatisfied with this and resolutely opposes it. We will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and institutions.” The BBC further reports that it is believed that the balloon is part of a larger fleet of them with a range over several continents. Multiple sources say that it is unknown what information the balloon was looking to gather, only that it looks like it was meant to be used for long term observation missions.

Based on the evidence found, the Chinese government was likely illegally flying the balloon over US government airspace. What gave the Chinese the idea to deploy the balloon? Perhaps they were trying to gather information to get ahead somehow. What kind of repercussions should they face or have they been punished enough? If it were anybody else would it be as big of a deal? The relationship between the US and Chinese government isn’t the best in the first place. How can the US government deter any further infringing on the rules and what do you think should be done? All of these are very important questions and we can only hope that it all ends well for the sake of our country.