[Global Times-Global Network Reporter Fan Wei] It has become a common way for countries all over the world to explore the earth’s environment by means of high-altitude balloons. Recently, however, the US government has concocted a series of "monitoring" farce by using the out-of-control China meteorological unmanned airship, which not only creates tension, destroys normal scientific research activities, but also seriously damages China’s rights and interests by force. An exclusive report recently obtained by Global Times reporter also shows that in recent years, the US military has dispatched a variety of military equipment, including high-altitude balloons, to frequently carry out reconnaissance and secret stealing activities around China. In fact, the United States is the world’s number one monitoring power.
Domestic scientific and technological intelligence companies: In 2022 alone, the US military dispatched more than 600 reconnaissance planes to the South China Sea in China for reconnaissance.
Defaming China for "using high-altitude balloons to conduct high-altitude surveillance on the United States" cannot hide the fact that the United States is the largest country in the world to monitor and steal secrets. Throughout history, the United States has developed and used strategic reconnaissance balloons in history, and openly broke into other countries’ airspace for photo reconnaissance. For example, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before the u-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane and spy satellite were put into practical use, the United States specially developed and used ws-119l and ws-461l high-altitude photographic reconnaissance balloons to carry out a series of strategic reconnaissance operations against the former Soviet Union.
Wang Wenbin, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said recently that since May last year, the United States has released a large number of high-altitude balloons in the United States and illegally flew over China’s airspace at least 10 times without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities, including Xinjiang and Xizang. An anonymous source also told the Global Times reporter that in recent years, the United States’ monitoring activities against China can be described as inferior. For example, in 2016, China captured the U.S. unmanned submersible in the relevant waters of the South China Sea, and in 2022, the number of U.S. military reconnaissance visits to China more than doubled compared with a decade ago. In addition, the United States has regularly deployed a large number of military aircraft and warships in the South China Sea, and frequently used other countries’ civil aviation aircraft identification codes for activities.
An exclusive report provided to the Global Times reporter by the domestic science and technology information company Mi Entropy Technology shows that according to adsb data, in 2022 alone, the US military dispatched more than 600 reconnaissance planes to the South China Sea of China for approaching reconnaissance. Considering that in some cases, the U.S. military conducting reconnaissance missions may turn off signals or use false identification numbers, in fact, the number of times the U.S. military approaches reconnaissance will only be more. In the direction of the East China Sea, the US military’s reconnaissance activities have not stopped, especially during the Taiwan Strait military exercise in 2022, the US military frequently dispatched rc-135, u-2, p-8a, ep-3e and ep-3c and other special combat military aircraft to enter the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea to carry out reconnaissance activities.
On August 1st, 2022, near the military exercise in the Taiwan Strait, the US Navy’s e-8c battlefield commanded aircraft to enter bashi channel again. (Source: Entropy Technology)
On August 9, 2022, ep-3e, e-3g and p-8a entered the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea respectively. (Source: Entropy Technology)
The high-altitude balloon used to discredit China is also one of the means for the United States to carry out reconnaissance. Previously, it was publicly reported that during the US-Philippines military exercise in 2022, the high-altitude reconnaissance balloon of the United States had already appeared. According to the report of Mi Entropy Technology, this type of balloon is made of polyethylene plastic, which is integrated with communication, navigation and remote sensing. The maximum resolution can be 0.5cm, which supports real-time video and can also be used as a communication node. In theory, the balloon can be deployed for 45 days at a time and can be recycled. The equipment has low requirements for the launch site, and the launch site is suspected to be located at Magsayburg Airport in santa rosa, Nova Scotia, which took one year to complete.
Data on March 31, 2022 showed that during the US-Philippines military exercise, the US military dispatched "high-altitude balloons" to conduct reconnaissance in the air (data source: Mi Entropy Technology).
In April 2022, foreign satellites captured the suspected "high-altitude balloon" target in the airspace near the Philippines. (Source: Entropy Technology)
On April 4, 2022, two American commercial outsourcing service providers, two "high-altitude balloons" and an "Osprey" flew over the Philippines. (Source: Entropy Technology)
In addition, the U.S. military has repeatedly used other countries’ civil aviation aircraft identification codes for approaching reconnaissance activities in China. According to the report of Mi Entropy Technology, during our military exercise in the Yellow Sea in 2020, the US military used the electronic codes of Malaysian and Philippine civil aviation aircraft to approach Hainan Island and Xisha Islands for reconnaissance. At the end of August, 2020, the U.S. Army also refitted Bombardier commercial aircraft, and carried out approaching reconnaissance on China for three consecutive days, and carried out military reconnaissance in the name of civilian use.
Regarding this dangerous act, Zhu Yaochun, deputy secretary-general of China Air Transport Association, pointed out in an interview with the Global Times reporter recently that the US military aircraft fraudulently used the identification code of other countries’ civil aviation aircraft, which obviously endangered the safety of ordinary civil aviation aircraft and infringed on the rights and interests of civil aviation. It is a serious illegal activity with extremely bad nature.
According to the report of Entropy Technology, in recent years, the means used by the U.S. military to approach China include American ships, military aircraft, fraudulent use of merchant ships or passenger airliners, and high-altitude "balloons". The methods of approaching reconnaissance include information reconnaissance aimed at the activities of ships such as submarines of our army; Electronic reconnaissance for deciphering our military communication and mastering radar frequency; Optical reconnaissance and radar imaging reconnaissance for spying on our island reefs and defense facilities; As well as the aerial activity reconnaissance carried out to master the take-off sorties and reaction time of our fighters. The purpose of reconnaissance is mainly to grasp the military dynamics, activity rules, development and deployment of weapons and equipment of our army.
An anonymous military source said in an interview with the Global Times reporter recently that since 2009, in order to curb the development of China, the United States began to push its strategic focus eastward and began to substantially increase the frequency of approaching reconnaissance in China’s coastal areas. Especially as our army gradually moved towards deep blue, the United States was deeply anxious and always used various means to approach reconnaissance in China with the mentality of "seeing what is in other people’s yards". Not only that, the US military also carried out the project exercise of "Continuous Strategic Bombing Action" in China’s coastal areas to strategically deter China.
"The United States uses its technological advantages to carry out reconnaissance activities in countries around the world, including China, highlighting its hegemonic mentality that it must master no matter where it is." The military official said that in addition, in order to curb the rise of China, the United States is still secretly conducting intelligence reconnaissance and even subversion and sabotage activities on China projects in countries along the Belt and Road and countries and regions with close contacts and friendship with China. "The regional bureaus in the State Council, USA have also created special posts, whose functions are to monitor China’s local economic, technical, diplomatic and military activities, and even the overseas activities of China enterprises.&lss Intervention ’ . The United States is a well-deserved number one monitoring country in the world. "
It is common for high-altitude balloons to be used in scientific research activities. The China unmanned airship that mistakenly entered the United States cannot be used for "high-altitude reconnaissance."
The World Meteorological Organization said on February 17th local time that weather balloons have been an important part of the global observation network for decades, and they are the basis of weather forecasting and climate monitoring. According to the World Meteorological Organization, millions of observation data are collected every day all over the world, including data from nearly 1,000 weather balloons equipped with radio detectors.
It has long been an international practice to use high-altitude balloons to carry out scientific research activities such as meteorology. According to public information, NASA pointed out in a previous explanation of the "Balloon Project" that high-altitude balloons can be launched from all over the world, which is a low-cost method for scientific observation with instruments and equipment, and is conducive to basic scientific research such as astronomy. According to a data released by China Science Network, as of 2018, the United States has distributed more than 2,000 high-altitude balloons with a maximum load of 3.6 tons, about 3,000 in France and more than 800 in Japan.
With the development of science and technology, due to the needs of meteorological observation and scientific research, scientific research institutions or enterprises around the world release high-altitude balloons more and more frequently, and correspondingly, it is more and more common for these balloons to fly internationally. According to public reports, the "Google Balloon" project launched by Google in the United States used high-altitude balloons to provide network services for some remote areas. Its balloons once flew around the earth, and the stay time was even as long as hundreds of days. This kind of commercial or scientific high-altitude balloons usually flew over the airspace of other countries, but such cross-border activities can generally be properly resolved through consultation.
However, after the China civil meteorological research airship went out of control and strayed into the United States, the United States ignored the basic facts and the friendly communication with China, but took the opportunity to conduct political manipulation and malicious speculation, falsely claiming that the balloon was used for "monitoring" purposes. In response to the US smear campaign, the above-mentioned anonymous military sources said that the China unmanned airship that mistakenly entered the United States could not be used for "high-altitude reconnaissance".
The military source pointed out that even officials of the U.S. Department of Defense and relevant experts pointed out that the balloon could not be used for reconnaissance activities, and reconnaissance satellites were more efficient and valuable than balloons for military reconnaissance. "But the current political atmosphere in the United States does not respect professionalism and common sense, making a mountain out of a molehill and deliberately making gimmicks for anti-China. It is important to note that the United States is currently conducting a so-called analysis of the load of balloons. It is necessary to be alert to the results of the US fraud analysis and further discredit China. "
It is an international practice to settle through consultation, and shooting down the Chinese unmanned airship violates international conventions.
Although China has repeatedly stated that the China airship was influenced by the westerlies and its own control ability was limited, it seriously deviated from the scheduled route and mistakenly entered the US airspace. However, the United States continued to maliciously speculate on the incident, and on February 4, local time, f-22 fighters were dispatched to shoot down the balloon and brazenly disposed of a civil aircraft by force. However, for other civil aircraft that have entered by mistake, there are already international disposal practices and relevant legal conventions for rational and correct guidance.
"The US side’s use of fighter missiles to shoot down China’s unmanned airship is obviously an overreaction, which does not conform to the spirit of international law and international practice." Zhu Yaochun told the Global Times reporter that, generally speaking, a country’s civil unmanned aerial vehicle strayed into another country’s airspace due to force majeure, and the two countries will generally solve this problem by non-military means through cooperative international communication in a calm, professional, restrained and low-key manner. This is the scientific and reasonable disposal method.
"In international practice, civil unmanned aerial vehicles that have strayed into a country’s airspace are usually handled by warning, driving away, accompanying flight, forced landing, etc., and resolved peacefully through diplomatic channels. Resolving international disputes by peaceful means such as negotiation and consultation is an important principle stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations. According to the general rules of international law, if there are three situations, such as force majeure, distress or emergency avoidance, the illegality of a country’s unmanned aircraft entering other countries’ airspace without permission can be exempted. The Convention on International Civil Aviation, the Federal Aviation Administration and other domestic laws and guiding principles in the United States stipulate that civil unmanned airships belong to unmanned aerial vehicles. Although the civilian nature of unmanned airships does not enjoy state immunity, private property is still sacred and inviolable. The U.S. approach can be said to have seriously infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of China enterprises, and the Chinese enterprises concerned have the right to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. "Zhu Yaochun said that China Airlines Association called for strengthening international cooperation, making joint efforts to promote the development and application of unmanned aircraft industry, enhancing the well-being of people of all countries, and working together to create a better future for mankind.
According to the reporter of Global Times, in this incident, China has always maintained a positive and cooperative attitude and maintained close communication with the US on this matter. However, the US side has unilaterally resorted to force regardless of the communication and dialogue between the two sides and the efforts made by China enterprises, which obviously violates the spirit of the principle of peaceful settlement of international disputes and once again exposes the US side’s nature of abusing force and dominating itself.
The above-mentioned military personnel also pointed out that in the balloon incident, even officials of the US Department of Defense said that the balloon did not pose a threat to the United States, but even so, the United States still mobilized the masses, dispatched f-22 fighter planes to shoot down the weather balloon in China, and staged a farce of "anti-aircraft guns hitting birds" with drums and gongs, which made China and the people of the world feel a very strange and funny anti-China political atmosphere in the United States.
On February 19th, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced the informal contact between Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Working Committee, and US Secretary of State Blinken during his attendance at the Munich Security Conference. He said that Wang Yi clearly showed China’s solemn stance on the so-called airship incident, and pointed out that what the US did was a typical abuse of force and a clear violation of international practices and civil aviation conventions. China was strongly dissatisfied and solemnly protested. What the United States should do is to show sincerity, face up to and solve the damage caused by the abuse of force to Sino-US relations. If the U.S. insists on making use of the topic, escalating the speculation and expanding the situation, China will accompany it to the end, and all the consequences will be borne by the U.S.
