The balloon crisis.. Messages exchanged between Beijing and Washington, so will they confront each other militarily?

Abdullah Al-Shayji, a professor of political science at Kuwait University, put the current tension between Washington and Beijing against the background of the balloon story in the context of the struggle to form a new world order, ruling out the occurrence of a direct confrontation between the two nuclear states.

China, according to Al-Shaiji, wanted to send several messages to the American side through the balloon, which the United States described as a spy balloon, and shot it down with a missile launched by an F-22 fighter jet in the airspace over the coast of South Carolina, according to him. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced - in a statement - on Saturday evening.

The political science professor said that China was trying to send pictures directly from the balloon, but the Americans succeeded in obfuscating that, stressing that Beijing knew that Washington would bring it down.

The US Secretary of Defense accused China of using the airship to monitor strategic US sites, and a Pentagon official confirmed that the airship is part of a Chinese fleet that is spying on the five continents, but the Chinese Foreign Ministry stuck to its version that it was first and foremost a matter of a civilian airship that deviated from its course due to force majeure.

In his speech to the episode (2/5/2023) of the “Beyond the News” program, Al-Shayji linked the story of the balloon, which Beijing described as “civilian,” to what he called the struggle for world leadership between the two countries, as China is the only country in the world that has the ability to compete. The United States is competing with it in many fields, technological, economic and even space.

Washington even sees the Chinese TikTok app as a threat to its national security.

As for what bothers China - according to Al-Shaiji, who is also an expert on American affairs - it is that the United States is rampaging in its areas of influence and supporting South Korea, Japan and others.

Despite this apparent tension between the two nuclear states, there are continuous contacts between them that take place under the table and they will not fight, according to the guest of the "Beyond the News" program, who saw that the nuclear deterrence factor is what prevents the occurrence of a third world war, indicating that despite all the threats What Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed using nuclear weapons since the start of the war in Ukraine about a year ago, he did not and will not do because he realizes how dangerous it is to go to a nuclear confrontation.

American buildup in the South China Sea

In the same context, the researcher in international relations, Riyad Eid, said that China wanted to send a message to the United States through the story of the balloon, stating that it, in turn, could spy on it, in light of the great American movements in the South China Sea and the alliances that Washington holds against China and the rules it publishes. In its areas of influence, in addition to the economic conflict between the two countries over the leadership of the world economically.

The United States and the Philippines concluded an agreement allowing American soldiers to use 4 additional military bases.

The agreement came with the visit of US Secretary of Defense Austin last Thursday to the capital, Manila.

Commenting on this step, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman considered that the United States is adhering to the zero-sum Cold War mentality, and is strengthening its military deployment in the Asia-Pacific region, which leads to increased tension and destabilization of regional peace and stability.

Eid believed that the conflict between Washington and Beijing took on an economic and technological dimension, and that the American build-up in and around the China Sea is what forced China not to implement its goals, especially its military programmes.

For his part, the researcher in international relations asserted that the raging conflict between the two countries will remain within the limits of the economic conflict, because they are two nuclear states and the interests between them are very great despite the apparent conflict, expecting that the war of balloons, espionage and information between them will continue.