Washington: The flight of the Chinese spy balloon over the US is a reminder of threats posed by the ruling Communist Party to the national sovereignty of America and many of its own neighbours, including Taiwan, Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said Sunday.
The US military Friday downed the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean and launched a mission to recover all the equipment from its debris. Speaking to CNN, he defended President Joe Biden’s decision to wait before shooting the balloon down, saying it was the “right thing” to take it down over the ocean.
“Now we get to salvage it and determine exactly whether it was a weather balloon, or whether. It was a surveillance balloon, which is what we all suspect and believed to be the case at this point,” said Krishnamoorthi, a ranking member of the new China Select Committee in the House of Representatives.
At the direction of President Joe Biden, the US military at 2.39 pm EST Friday shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, some six miles (9.65 kms) away from the US shores in South Carolina, with no damage to the life and properties of Americans
“I think that it just reminds us of the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party and, and that’s the reason for the formation of the committee,” he said when asked about the incident.
“…We know that there are military, technological national security threats, of course, this particular balloon. The balloon reminded us that these threats exist, that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is aggressive and that they are, unfortunately, committing surveillance and violations of our own national sovereignty, not to mention violations of the national sovereignty of so many of their neighbours, including Taiwan and others,” he said.
China views Taiwan, a self-ruled island, as a rebel province that should be reunified with the mainland, even by force.
When asked if Biden did the right thing by waiting to shoot down the huge Chinese spy balloon, he said: “I think he did exactly the right thing… First of all, the threat of its collection capabilities were severely mitigated, I think through countermeasures that we’ve taken to jam their electronics and so forth. But there was a threat of a large debris field and also they wanted to probably collect on the balloon as he (Biden) was on his journey to learn as much as possible about its capabilities.
“And then finally, when people and property were out of harm’s way to take it down. So I think it was exactly the right course,” he said. He said the US will soon find out the nature of the balloon and know who, what, when, where and how related to that balloon once it salvages the technology.
“But at the end of the day, I think that probably there were actors within the Chinese Communist Party who continued with their aggressive surveillance. And it’s not even clear whether the left and the right hands knew what they were doing in terms of the Chinese foreign ministry, and others knowing about this. Of course, if they did, it would really question the sincerity of their diplomatic overtures,” he said.
Krishnamoorthi said the US must question how eager he is to solve our diplomatic issues and to do so in a responsible way.
When asked how this downing of the balloon was going to impact ties, he said: “The Pentagon has, you know, flatly denied the Chinese government’s claim that the balloon was serving some sort of civilian research purpose like weather for example.
“I particularly think that the Chinese are going to have some explaining to do and they’re gonna have to own up to it. But regardless, it doesn’t decrease tensions if anything, it just keeps them at the state they are at and maybe worsens them.
“But for the sake of all of us, we’re going to continue to uncover the facts behind the CCPs threats to us on the committee to counter them and then hopefully, come back another day to diplomatically resolve our disputes with the CCP even as we work with our friends and allies and partners in the region, on our collective mutual defence.
He said CIA director Bill Burns said recently that President Xi Jinping has instructed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.
“This is four years away. And I think that we have to realise that we cannot have in Taiwan, what has happened with Ukraine. That is a criminal invasion of Ukraine. We can’t have that happening in East Asia with Taiwan. And so that’s why it’s all the more reason for me as a member of the Intelligence Committee, to work with our colleagues to make sure that the Ukrainians prevail because I think that Chairman Xi is watching that conflict very carefully,” he said.
“And then secondly, we have to work with our Taiwan partners and friends in the region to make sure that they are adequately supplied for their own self-defence. It’s not only legally bound on us to do so under the Taiwan relations, but it’s the right thing to do and the smart thing to do as well,” he added.
PTI
