Spy Balloons and UFOs: A New Chinese Foreign Policy Strategy?
Since February 4th, the United States has ordered the shooting down of four different flying objects in its airspace. After the White House confirmed the first was a Chinese spy balloon drifting over one of the U.S. nuclear missile fields in Montana, there has been increasing concern for objects in its airspace. The Chinese government has responded, saying the balloon was just a weather airstrip that had blown astray, however the U.S. has considered these airspace violations a national security concern.
Are all these flying objects a concern for international security and relations with China?
James Murray talks to Dr Michael Cohen, Senior Lecturer, National Security College, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. He is author of When Proliferation Causes Peace: The Psychology of Nuclear Crises, co-editor of North Korea and Nuclear Weapons: Entering the New Era of Deterrence.