China launches nuclear fear campaign via spy balloon.

Rick Fisher, a Senior Fellow on Asian Military Affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center and a recognized authority on the People’s Republic of China military, believes the Chinese spy balloon that entered U.S. airspace on Jan. 28 is the beginning of a nuclear fear campaign that will only grow. Fisher stated that this is due to China’s desire to make Americans afraid, as this year marks the year that Party leader Xi Jinping wants to make clear to the United States that their support for Taiwan could lead to war, even nuclear war.

Fisher explained that the balloon was a surveillance platform capable of capturing imagery and weather data, both of which are necessary if one wants to hit a specific target using warheads and hypersonic glide vehicles. He added that the balloon was launched from Hainan Island, a Chinese nuclear stronghold, and that the Biden administration’s delay in shooting down the balloon allowed it to gather valuable weather data and sent a message to China.

Beijing has maintained that the balloon was not a spy balloon but a weather balloon that blew off course, and has condemned the United States’ decision to shoot down the balloon as an “excessive reaction” and said it “retains the right to respond further.” The Pentagon responded to China’s claims by saying the Department of Defense is “100 percent” sure it wasn’t a civilian craft and was a “surveillance balloon” with “intelligence-collection capability.”