Canada was flat-footed on spy balloon

It was a superpower showdown, unfolding in slow motion.

The strange case of the high-flying Chinese balloon meandering across the continent kept many people riveted, especially those with a front-row seat who could actually see it float across the sky.

Its presence in North American skies was publicly revealed last Thursday by U.S. defence officials, who said it was a “high-altitude surveillance balloon.” The U.S., they said, had taken steps “immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.” One imagined military personnel throwing tarps over aircraft, missile silos and anything else of interest in its path.

By this time, the aerial intruder — tracked for days by Norad since its detection over Alaska — had apparently passed above Canadian territory with nary a word from officials on this side of the border, demonstrating again Ottawa’s reflexive penchant for secrecy. Indeed, it was left to Americans to confirm the balloon’s passage through Canadian airspace.

But once its existence was confirmed, Canadians were quick to pronounce that they too were working to “safeguard Canada’s sensitive information from foreign intelligence threats.”

China did admit that it belonged to them, but insisted it was simply a civilian airship meant for meteorological research that had gone off course.

Nonsense, said a U.S. defence official at a Pentagon briefing. “This surveillance balloon purposefully traversed the United States and Canada. And we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites.”

Moreover, this balloon’s path was not at the mercy of highaltitude wind currents. It was being purposefully steered, they said.

As spy missions go, this one was hardly stealthy. Its bright white envelope stood out in the blue sky. Below it dangled an array of equipment about the size of three school buses. The U.S. military wouldn’t provide regular updates of its location, but one official did concede it was in plain sight.

“The public certainly has the ability to look up in the sky — and see where the balloon is.”

Then Saturday, as the balloon passed over ocean waters just off the South Carolina coast, it was shot down by a missile fired by an F-22 fighter jet. Like a popped party balloon, down it came.

China was not pleased, calling the action an “obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.” Beijing protests too much. It’s not like losing a Frisbee over the back fence and expecting the neighbour to toss it back.

The balloon’s deployment and flight path over some sensitive military installations was a brazen act. It wasn’t the first time — U.S. defence officials say there were three incidents during president Donald Trump’s administration.

Yet what made this one different was China’s “willingness” to put the balloon over the U.S. for such an extended period, Pentagon officials said.

There was diplomatic fallout from the balloon’s marathon flight. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled a planned visit to China. Canada summoned China’s ambassador to lodge a formal protest.

The episode seems very curious.

Surely China could not reasonably hope that its high-altitude excursion would escape unnoticed. Was it truly meant as an espionage mission? Certainly, there were questions over what intelligence the balloon might gather that wasn’t already evident to satellites.

A diplomatic provocation? If so, a clumsy one. An annoyance, meant to retaliate against what Beijing views as U.S. incursions in its sphere of influence? Or a test to see what China can get away with in North American airspace.

Bits of the downed balloon are being fished from the Atlantic in hopes they will provide some clues about the gear on-board and its mission.

Hopefully the answers provided by that recovery mission will prompt Canadian officials to provide an overdue explanation of this airborne interloper.

Canadians shouldn’t have to rely on American explanations of the trespassers in their skies.