Here is demonstration of typically childish-arrogant behavior of the U.S. government towards foreign countries.
China Isn’t Ready to Pick Up Phone After Balloon Incident
Chinese officials rejected a request from the U.S. defense secretary to speak with his counterpart after an American fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that China had rejected a request from Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III to speak with his Chinese counterpart on Saturday soon after an American fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
That statement by the Pentagon immediately raises a question. Why hadn't the U.S. defense secretary called the Chinese defense minister before shooting down the Chinese weather ballon?
The U.S. apparently detected the balloon on January 29 when it was over the Aleutian Islands. Austin could have called his Chinese counterpart anytime in the seven days between that detection and the time the decision was taken to shot it down:
“We believe in the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and the P.R.C. in order to responsibly manage the relationship,” Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in an emailed statement, referring to the People’s Republic of China. “Lines between our militaries are particularly important in moments like this.”
It was not to be. “Unfortunately,” General Ryder said, “the P.R.C. has declined our request” to arrange a call with Wei Fenghe, the Chinese defense minister.
The purpose of high level lines of communication between military and political leaders is to prevent that crises happen or, if one has happen incidentally, to prevent their escalation.
Before the shot down the Chinese defense minister Wei Fenghe likely would have taken that call. But the U.S. decided to shoot first and to talk later. That was and is inappropriate.
On January 29 the Chinese weather balloon was drifting westward over Alaska and Canada. There was no expectation that it would cross into the United States. But an unusual low pressure formation over east Canada eventually caused that. Low pressure areas in the northern hemisphere turn counter-clockwise. High pressure areas turn clockwise. The unusually strong low pressure zone over east Canada pushed arctic air masses south through Canada and then south west to west to New England. This phenomenon, on February 1 and 2, caused a cold snap in east Canada and the northeast of the U.S.. But the wind also caused the 200 feet high balloon to turn south.
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Picture the coldest Canadian night imaginable. What did you think of it? Clear skies? Calm winds? A deep snowpack? This cold snap had none of these ingredients align because this type of cold is different. Meet advection cold.
The cold air wasn’t developed on location. The imported cold was fed south by a strong low and the trajectory of the polar vortex. The polar vortex was swirling near Hudson Bay and was slingshotted south by favourable atmospheric dynamics.
The cold air wrapped around a developing low, lifting across Labrador. Not just any cold air, either — the stratospheric polar vortex mixed down in what’s known as a tropopause fold and occurs near the core of a jet stream.
A wind and pressure map from February 3 shows the then already waning low pressure area in the upper right. The red arrow shows the balloon's course.
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Both the cold snap and the balloon's turn were surprising. The jet stream would usually have prevent both from happening. But this time the low pressure area proved to be stronger if only for a short moment. It is the reason why the balloon ended up crossing the U.S.
Source: Wikipedia – bigger
There was no way the balloon could have been steered against the prevailing wind. Here is a CBS meteorologist, who had used NOAA software to predicted the course of the ballon, confirming that fact:
Ed Russo @EdRussoWX – 11:37 UTC · Feb 4, 2023
Replying to @soonersfan2022
The balloon is flying at the height of the jet stream. The jet stream winds will steer the balloon… even a simple rudder won’t be a match for the 200+ mph upper level winds.
By no means could China have planned the balloon's course. Any allegations that the balloon was being 'steered' and intentionally crossed U.S. missile fields and military bases to 'spy' on those are thereby bogus. China has some 300 satellites in the earth's orbit. It does not need balloons to take aerial pictures of static missile silos in the mid-west U.S.
The NYT also writes:
China has insisted that the electronics-laden machine was simply a weather balloon that had drifted off course.
The balloon debris has not been recovered yet. Based on what fact is the NYT then claiming that it the balloon was an 'electronics-laden machine'?
China is not happy that the Biden administration is hyperventilating over the incident. But it will keep its calm:
Different political forces within the US, including President Joe Biden and the Republican Party, are still hyping up the incident of a Chinese civilian unmanned airship in the US media in order to gain political interests ahead of the annual State of the Union address, rather than making efforts to cool down the matter.
Chinese experts said on Tuesday that it shows that the chaotic, messy and sick political situation in Washington means that China-US tensions are unlikely to ease in the near future. It also proves that the Biden administration is incapable of setting so-called guardrails for bilateral ties under the complex situation within the US.
China will keep calm and observe what the US does next, and whether Biden creates conditions for engagement or Washington allows bilateral ties to keep worsening, China is ready to handle any possible moves by the US, experts noted.
Austin's attempts to call his Chinese counterpart AFTER the shit happened is seen as an attempt to additionally insult the Chinese government.
Austin will not be given a chance to do that.
