Committee says Chinese balloon makes US look ‘weak’, calls for tougher Biden action

The Republican chairman of the newly formed US House Committee on China asked the Biden government this Sunday (5) to be firmer in its diplomatic relations with Beijing, after the episode of the alleged Chinese surveillance balloon.

Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher told Fox News the balloon incident “makes us look weak and unprepared on the world stage” and implored the White House to engage with China with renewed skepticism.

“The message I have for the Biden administration is, ‘Don’t fall for the Chinese Communist Party’s charm offensive.’ It’s a scam. It’s a bedtime story they tell global elites out of reach in Davos. It’s time to pull back before it’s too late, before something far more dangerous than a balloon is flying over American soil,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher criticized the White House for its response to the downing of the balloon, likening the balloon’s day-long flight over the continental United States to a home invasion.

“Letting a Chinese surveillance balloon float lazily over America is like seeing a burglar on your porch and inviting him in, showing him where you keep your safe, where you keep your guns, where your children sleep at night, and then asking politely let him go. It doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Gallagher said he believed the balloon “absolutely” could have been shot down after crossing Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. He said the US must develop the capability to shoot down surveillance balloons easily if the military still cannot.

“If we don’t have the ability to neutralize it, corner it, collect it, examine it and exploit it, well, that’s a capability we need to develop with an $850 billion defense budget. Because I suspect this is not the last time we will see a Chinese investigation,” Gallagher said.