Biden’s delay in acting goes down like a lead balloon

President’s slow response to suspected Chinese spyware made US look weak, say Republicans

JOE BIDEN faced a backlash over his handling of the Chinese spy balloon yesterday, with critics rounding on the president for doing “too little, too late” and leaving the US “humiliated”.

Pressure was mounting on Mr Biden as he prepared to deliver his State of the Union address tomorrow, with Republican critics accusing him of making the United States look weak.

In another blow to Mr Biden’s leadership a poll yesterday showed that 62 per cent of Americans would be “angry” or “dissatisfied” if he were elected again.

The ABC poll showed that Mr Biden had a 42 per cent approval rating – his highest since last April – although Mr Trump had a three-point lead in a hypothetical rematch.

China maintains the balloon was carrying weather instruments and the head of its weather service was sacked yesterday. The balloon was brought down off South Carolina on Saturday afternoon, after provoking another spat between Washington and Beijing, which saw a planned visit by Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, scrapped.

Republicans have repeatedly accused Mr Biden of being soft on Beijing, saying the administration has failed to confront its aggression in the South China Sea. Over the weekend, criticism was led by Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican senator and a China hawk.

“What began as a spy balloon has become a trial balloon, testing President Biden’s strength and resolve, and unfortunately the president failed that test,” he said on Fox News.

Mike Turner, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, described shooting down the balloon as “tackling the quarterback after the game is over”. Donald Trump added: “The Chinese balloon situation is a disgrace, just like the Afghanistan horror show and everything else surrounding the grossly incompetent Biden Administration. They are only good at cheating in elections, and disinformation.”

The State Department said two Chinese spy balloons entered US airspace while he was in power – an assertion denied by the former president. Another is believed to have entered early in Mr Biden’s term.

“I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible,” Mr Biden said on Saturday.

“Without doing any damage to people on the ground they decided that the

‘The Chinese balloon situation is a disgrace, just like the Afghanistan horror show and everything else’

best time to do that was when it got over water outside within a 12-mile limit.”

In Beijing, the Chinese government accused the US of a “serious violation”.

“For the US to insist on using armed force is clearly an overreaction that seriously violates international practice,” the Chinese foreign ministry said. Beijing said that it “reserved the right to take further actions in response”.

China tried to minimise the significance of the cancellation of Mr Blinken’s two-day visit, when he was due to meet Xi Jinping, the Chinese president.

The balloon was brought down by an F-22 fighter jet, which fired a single AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, sending it plummeting into the Atlantic.

Given that the waters where it fell are shallow, there is hope that divers will be able to salvage much of the debris – providing the US valuable intelligence on the spy technology used by Beijing.

Colombia said its air force had detected another Chinese spy balloon flying across the country at 55,000ft.