China's suspected spy balloon appeared in the sky over Montana, USA on the 1st.

(Reuters)

[Compilation Guan Shuping/Comprehensive Report] The Chinese spy balloon invaded the airspace of the United States, and various parties speculated on the motive of this action.

Think tank scholars and security experts pointed out that this incident clearly represents a bolder and provocative, albeit puzzling, espionage method for China than relying on satellites and stealing industrial and national defense secrets.

"Reuters" reported on the 4th that the United States and China have used reconnaissance satellites to monitor each other's movements from the sky for decades. puzzled.

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"It's kind of amateurish in a way," said former White House national security adviser John Bolton. "The cameras on their satellites aren't high-resolution enough. Do you have to send a balloon?"

Cheng Bin, a senior adviser on the China program at the US Institute of Peace (USIP), a Washington think tank, said that the balloon discovered this week was clearly a deliberate provocation. "This is a test of how the other side will react. Politically, what would you do? Would you stay silent?" He said, if this is not the first time, but has happened several times, then it raises an interesting question: "The previous few incidents How? Did we shoot the balloon down?"

Mike Rounds, a Republican member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, said in "Fox News" that the balloon can be obtained to understand "whether it is really designed to collect data or test our ability to respond."

FBI Director Christopher Wray pointed out in 2020 that "China's counterintelligence and economic theft threat" is the biggest long-term threat to American information and intellectual property; the FBI opened a case to investigate the frequency of China's counterintelligence operations The degree shows the seriousness of China's commercial secret theft from the United States.

Experts pointed out that in recent decades, China's more common espionage method is to use students or individuals related to China to study in universities, work in technology companies, or hack into the internal network systems of these institutions to obtain sensitive information.

Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who has handled various national security cases, said, "China's problems are more in the academic and scientific circles." "There is no doubt that the situation is changing, and China is also changing for whatever reason You have to be more bold and provocative.”

"Voice of America" ​​quoted Patrick M. Cronin, Director of Asia-Pacific Security Studies at the Washington think tank "Hudson Institute" on the 4th, saying that China sent reconnaissance balloons to collect information on intercontinental missile bases and other strategic bases. , It is a "strange and clumsy behavior". He called on the US government to analyze the reasons behind it and be ready to make an appropriate and precise response.