On Wednesday, residents in Montana saw a mysterious object — a balloon — hovering and bobbing around in the skies. The enigma brought Americans out to squint at the heavens, caused a diplomatic visit to be canceled and opened a political debate.

How did a balloon end up kindling such tension between Washington and Beijing?

Guest: Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The Chinese balloon drifted for seven days across the United States. Here’s a timeline of events.
• The balloon was brought down by an air-to-air missile fired at it off the coast of South Carolina.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.