China understands that Joe Biden is going to rattle the saber just like Xi Jinping is doing in the other direction. How do you get past that kind of moment of, I don't know, political theater to make sure that it doesn't become something else? It's keeping those lines of communication open and the back channels open because they'll understand that Xi Jinping has to sound tough.
What started as a curiosity—a Chinese balloon Washington says was equipped with surveillance equipment floating high above the US—now threatens to worsen the already tense rivalry between two world powers.
China insists it was a civilian research balloon that had drifted off course. Its government responded with anger after President Joe Biden ordered the vessel shot down Saturday once it was safely off the coast of South Carolina.
What information can a balloon like that collect? And what does this incident mean for US-China relations? Rosalind Mathieson, who oversees Bloomberg’s government and political coverage around the world, joins this episode to sort out what this was all about—and where things go from here.
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