/ world today news/ The world is hotly discussing the supposedly “leaked” documents from the Pentagon, which we are told that a 21-year-old American military man, apparently with superpowers, managed to spread on the Internet. Regardless of whether this story, which the Western media unanimously reproduces, is true, the fact is that all the information from the documents is starting to have an effect. They comment on all sorts of things, from upcoming Ukrainian offensives to the so-called Chinese balloon incidents and more.
According to The Washington Post, a document that was written by the US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency on February 15 contains a government assessment of three Chinese aerial vehicles. The publication said that one of the “balloons” that flew over the United States in February could generate enough energy to operate “all kinds of” intelligence technology, including some very special radar that can see both at night and through clouds and what not.
For their part, Chinese military experts emphasized that a significant part of the data in the “leaked” documents is not at all evidence and serious research, but rather political fabrications aimed at developing the furore that has been created around the Chinese drone ( which according to the Chinese is a civilian), the so-called “bubble” to scare the Americans and Europeans about the “Chinese threat”.
This is very reminiscent of the hysteria surrounding Covid, when the US authorities quite openly encouraged racism against Asians and especially the Chinese, placing the blame for the burdens of the pandemic on them in a rather transparent way. In fact, this is also reminiscent of the so-called The “Yellow Peril” of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, when a racist metaphor developed in the Western world, depicting East Asians as insidious Orientals with no soul and planning something evil against the West.
According to some modern scholars, the “yellow peril” was used as a justification by European powers, such as the Second German Reich, the British Empire and France, to invade China (during the so-called Boxer Rebellion) and take advantage of the then weakness of the Qing Empire to secure its colonial economic interests. This “yellow peril” also appeared in the second half of the 19th century, when workers from China began arriving in the US, Canada and Australia, where they were often attacked by racist white Anglo-Saxons who feared they would lose their jobs because supposedly the Chinese were willing to work for less money and longer hours. Similarly, in 1895, the German Kaiser used an allegorical lithograph where the Reich was presented as the leader of Europe, as a goddess of war, leading the Europeans against the “yellow menace from the east”.
Returning to modern times, as far as balloons are concerned, it is worth noting that such facilities are used by all major countries for scientific research. In 2018 alone, the US launched more than 2,000 high-altitude balloons, and Japan at least 800. And of course, there are always cases of balloons that deviate from their course and even enter foreign airspace. Is anyone talking about American, Japanese, French or British balloons today? No.
In addition to this, according to the so-called Chicago Convention, civilian unmanned aerial vehicles have the same legal status as civilian aircraft. And since the US has no evidence whatsoever that Chinese balloons have the equipment and capabilities to support said intelligence equipment (other than media speculation), they should be treated the same way civilian aircraft are treated. Which did not prevent the US authorities from destroying this Chinese state property, in defiance of international agreements and laws that they themselves have signed.
Later it turned out that the USA was trying to link Anthony Blicken’s visit to China with the so-called balloon incident, which in turn shows that Washington is ready to use any occasion to discredit countries it sees as competitors, instead of focusing on the much-needed international cooperation in these tumultuous times we live in. Can China focus on Nancy Pelosi’s illegal visit to the island of Taiwan, which is recognized even by the US as a territory of the People’s Republic of China? Maybe, of course, because this visit was a crude attempt to legitimize a separatist local government and a provocation against Beijing. But China chose not to make a global scandal out of it and completely destroy its relations with the US, although of course Beijing responded and seriously.
But the difference is that China is always restrained and seeks to find a common language with the Americans, which cannot be said for Washington, which uses everything from Covid to “bubbles” to create anti-Chinese sentiment around the world. This is a flawed tactic that will only accelerate the decline of American hegemony. The US must understand that in the 21st century, peace, prosperity and the interests of all countries, including its own, will be guaranteed only through equal dialogue with China, not ultimatums, “restraint” and aggressiveness.
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