China’s ‘Climate’ Balloon Risks Arctic Peace
The Asian superpower has riled up American defense hawks, hurting prospects for meaningful cooperation on the impacts of global warming.
Resources, climate change and security make the Arctic strategically important.
Photographer: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFPThe Chinese balloon’s flight across North America ended explosively over the Atlantic. But it began over Alaska, which also shapes the implications of this latest Sino-US clash.
The balloon first entered US airspace north of the Aleutian Islands on January 28, according to a background briefing by military and defense officials this weekend. It crossed into Canadian airspace two days later before moving south into the US again. US officials are confident it was a surveillance device, while China claims it was an errant climate-research balloon.