美国媒体哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）在9月17日有一则不寻找的报导，标题为：中国间谍气球背后的离奇真相。
依据报导：这无疑是拜登政府最奇怪的危机：美国派出最先进的战斗机去击落一个气球——一个飘过美国，让整个国家和政治家都陷入了恐慌的中国间谍气球。七个月后的今天，美国参谋长联席会议主席马克米利将军告诉哥伦比亚广播公司，所谓中国气球并没有进行间谍活动。情报界的评估——这是一个高可信度的评估——这些气球并没有收集情报。
美方情报界“高可信度评估”认为这些气球并没有进行间谍活动！
读者或许会注意到，新闻的标题继续错误地声称这是一个飞过美国上空的“间谍”气球。这是在试图模糊和隐藏美国将领谈话中的要点。
还值得注意的是，美国媒体也忽视了米利将军迟来的否认，正如他解释的那样，气球被吹离了航线，据此推断，这不是故意要飞越美国领空。
“高空风很大。在那个高度上，气球上的特殊发动机无法抵抗风力。”
美国和西方媒体炒作
回顾一下，这宗牵动中美关系，引起美国和其他西方国家的领袖、政客和媒体如此关注的中国间谍气球事件。
从2023年1月28日首次发现气球飞越阿拉斯加开始，一直到2月4日气球被击落，这气球引来了美国和西方媒体，不管是报纸、广播电视网络和新闻博客的广泛和激动的报导，并指中国有入侵美国领空的能力，而美国则无力对抗中国的“间谍”武器。
当时，美国政军领导人均不愿接受中国外交部在2月3日的解释，即这是“一艘用于研究的民用飞艇，主要用于气象用途，因受西风带影响，自导向能力有限，因而气球偏离了预定航向。”
中国发言人毛宁表示，中方对这意外事件表示遗憾，这是不可抗力的结果。2月6日，随著美国反应加剧，毛宁认为，美国“故意炒作此事件，甚至使用武力攻击”，把气球击落，是“不可接受且不负责任的行为”。2月5日在美国把气球击落后，中国外交部副部长谢锋表示，他已向美国大使馆提出严正交涉。 谢指责美国滥用武力对付即将飞离美国领空的民用飞艇，违反了“国际法和国际惯例”。
中国气球事件不仅导致美国国务卿布林肯取消原定访华行程；也进一步加剧中美紧张关系，并成了美国媒体炒作的另一个议题，制造反华、反中情绪。正如美中贸易全国委员会会长克雷格艾伦在事件发生几个月后所说：
虽然中国气球飞越过美国本土和阿拉斯加只有数天，但其影响是相当长远的。原因是普通美国人，一般上是不会去理解中国，但得知天上飘来了一个中国气球，这几乎在个人层面上表明中国可能对他们构成威胁；心理上和在政治上，在美国国内政治体系内，这个气球肯定会引起很多回响。国会中一些反拜登总统的人强烈批评拜登没有立即击落气球，所以这变成了民主党和共和党的博弈——我猜测现在仍然如此。
接下来会发生什么？
现在“离奇的真相”已经被揭开：这只是一个偏离了方向的气象气球，我们可以预料美国和其他西方媒体会掩盖这一离奇的真相，反之寻找另一个问题和借口来给美国和世界民众洗脑，指中国有对西方发动战争意图。
目前，美国军方已向美国民众表明，其有能力保卫国家安全，击落来自中国面积只有三辆公巴大小、价格经济的气球。但很明显，美国空军和军方需要更大的预算来应对即将到来的战争，以捍卫美国的“自由、价值和主权”。
中国现在最应关注的，该是避免再发射气象气球靠近美国，以免给美国民众带来更多噩梦，也合理化了仇视中国的游说团体。
林德宜《中国气球：美国解释安抚西方媒体不安》原文：China Balloon: Agitated Western News Ends with US Confirming Chinese Explanation
US television and radio network CBS in its news on 17 September carried a report with a strange title, The bizarre truth behind China’s Spy Balloon.
According to the report
It was surely the most bizarre crisis of the Biden administration: America's top-of-the-line jet fighters being sent up to shoot down, of all things, a balloon – a Chinese spy balloon that was floating across the United States, which had the nation and its politicians in a tizzy. Now, seven months later, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells “CBS News Sunday Morning” the balloon wasn't spying." The intelligence community, their assessment – and it's a high-confidence assessment – [is] that there was no intelligence collection by that balloon," he said.
The balloon was not spying according to the “high-confidence assessment” of the US intelligence aka spying community!
Readers will note that the title of the story continues to falsely claim that it was a “spy balloon” that flew over the US. This was done by obscuring and concealing the main point made by the US military chief.
It is also noteworthy that US media has ignored General Milley’s overdue admission as well as his explanation that the balloon was blown off course, and by inference, was not intended to fly over US air space.
"Those winds are very high. The particular motor on that aircraft can't go against those winds at that altitude."
US and Western Media Hype
To recount, few events in China-US relations have aroused US and other Western politicians and leaders - and western media - as much as the alleged China spy balloon episode.
Beginning from January 28 2023 when the balloon was first spotted flying over Alaska until 4 February when it was shot down, the balloon precipitated possibly the most coverage and most agitated but groundless news cycle in US and western media history with reporters in newspapers, radio and television networks and news blogs lining up to have a go at China’s ability to penetrate US air space and US inability to counter China’s ‘spying’ capability.
No US political or military leader was willing to accept China’s Foreign Ministry explanation provided on February 3 that it was “a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course."
Spokesperson Mao Ning said China regretted the unintentional incident which was an outcome of force majeure. As US reaction intensified on February 6, Mao said that the U.S."hyped up the incident on purpose and even used force to attack", and called the shoot down "an unacceptable and irresponsible action". After the downing on February 5, China’s Vice Foreign Minister said he had filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Embassy in response to the incident. Xie accused the United States of indiscriminately using force against the civilian airship that was about to leave U.S. airspace in violation of "the spirit of international law and international practice".
The incident not only resulted in the cancellation by State Secretary Blinken of planned talks with his Chinese counterpart; it also provided the pretext for the further beating of war drums and gave US media another cover story to generate anti-China and anti Chinese sentiment. As explained by Ambassador Craig Allen, President of the US-China Business Council several months after the incident,
While the balloon’s transit over the Contiguous United States and Alaska was only a few days, the impact was quite long-term. The reason for that is that ordinary Americans, who generally do not think about China at all, learned that up in the sky there was a balloon. It brought at an almost personal level that China might be a threat to them; psychologically and politically, within the domestic US political system, this balloon certainly had resonance. Some in Congress opposed to the President criticized him fiercely for not shooting it down immediately, so this became a little bit of a football between the Democrats and the Republicans—I suspect it still is.
What can happen next?
Now that the “bizarre truth” has been uncovered that it was only a weather balloon that had strayed from its course, we can expect US and other western media to conceal this bizarre truth and look for another issue and excuse to brainwash the American and world public about China’s war intentions against the west.
For now, the US military has shown to the American public that it is able to defend the country against a gigantic three bus-sized economy priced balloon from China. But it is clear that its air force and military need a much bigger budget for the coming war to preserve American ‘freedom, way of life and sovereignty’.
The chief concern for China now should be to avoid sending any more weather balloons near to the US in case this brings about more nightmares to the American public and provides further justification to the hate China lobby.
公共政策分析学者
