Balloon should not derail ties, diplomat says

Episode seen as underlining the need for China and U.S. to keep on talking

Relations between China and the United States should not be led astray by a "wandering balloon", a senior Chinese envoy has said in an opinion piece in The Washington Post.

The shooting down of an unmanned civilian Chinese airship by a U.S. missile on Feb 4 has further strained the relationship between China and the U.S., which described the airship as a "spy balloon".

In the past few weeks, the balloon's entry into U.S. airspace and the U.S. handling of the matter had "brought new challenges" to the China-U.S. relationship, "testing the two countries' ability to properly address an unexpected incident", Xu Xueyuan, charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Washington, wrote in the article, published on Friday.

"We sincerely hope that the United States will work with China and not allow a wandering balloon to lead the bilateral relationship astray. We look forward to concrete steps to prevent the situation from going further down the wrong path, so that the China-U.S. relationship can return to a track of sound and stable development."

The airship, "which was used for meteorological research, unintentionally entered U.S. airspace because of the westerlies and its limited self-steering capability", Xu said.

China had made these details available to the U.S. after "earnest verification" and in the shortest possible time, calling for the situation to be handled "in a calm, professional and quiet manner", she said. Yet the U.S. had called the object a "spy balloon of the People's Liberation Army, and shot it down, though it posed no real security threat".

"The U.S. also alleged that China has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program targeting the world, and illegally imposed sanctions on six Chinese companies and institutions. The overreaction by America — and its moves to heighten the issue — have exacerbated the situation. This isolated incident has caused new wounds in China-U.S. relations.

"Many of the issues between the two countries originate from strategic misperception and misjudgment. The difficulty caused by the airship's accidental entrance in U.S. airspace is just another example."

'Return to reason'

When the China-U.S. relationship enters a difficult patch, "we must show the courage and wisdom to respect facts and return to reason", Xu wrote.

"Sensational and politically driven moves harm everyone. By handling this balloon incident properly, China and the U.S. would prove to their people, and the world, that they can respect each other and act responsibly to manage differences and avoid confrontation."

Xu's article appeared a day after President Joe Biden made his first extended statement on Thursday about the spate of floating craft above North America.

Three objects shot down since the balloon was shot down on Feb 4 were probably research balloons, not spy craft, Biden said.

The balloon episode "underscores the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between our diplomats and our military professionals", Biden said.

He said that while diplomats will be engaging further, he will remain in communication with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xu wrote that China stands for more dialogue between the two countries at all levels, which has been an important understanding Xi and Biden reached when they met in Bali three months ago.

"If we condense the past experiences of our bilateral relations, they point to this: China and the United States both gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation," Xu wrote.