That’s essentially how China explained away an errant Chinese balloon that ended up in the backyard of the United States,lingered on for a few days and struck something deeply visceral in many people’s gut around the world. Was the world coming to an end?
America’s most famous poet, Robert Frost, gathered in verses that there were two schools of thoughts about the end of tierra firma in his poem,’ Fire and Ice’ . Some, he wrote, thought fire would do it. Others felt ice would write finis. Frankly, quoting from the closing scene in movie“Gone with the Wind”, he didn’t give a damn. There was, still is, so much hate in the world we live in that, as far as he was concerned, ice would suffice.
Another writer humored that he doesn’t want to be rouse from sleep unless the world will end , whether in a bang or whimper, as long as there are special effects. The unexpected, unwelcomed Chinese balloon almost did the trick. Power with clumsiness , like cop who pulls the trigger by mistake,can be dangerous.
The Chinese were both embarrassed and chastened by the awkward incident. It was not supposed to be there, China’s apologists said, because it was meant to perform some meteorological research, but somehow it was carried away there beyond Chinese’s control. It was not supposed to be there, rhymed Americans for different reasons, because it violated US airspace and sovereignty. A perfect definition of a driver losing control of the wheels or a pilot landing on the freeway.
After a couple of days of vacillation, President Biden finally ordered thatt be blown into smithereens out of the US skies. But not before Secretary of State Anthony Blinken cancelled a scheduled visit and meeting with China’s bold and daring Xi JingPing. Has the thaw in relation between Beijing and Washington gone into the wind as well?
The world, for once, has collectively heaved a sigh of relief over what might have been. Lunacy is a trademark of authoritarianism. Scientists and eschatology students must have gone back to work vis-à-vis the divergent views of how the world will disappear , considering two nagging things: climate change and changing moral norms. Preachers must be preparing their own sermons in a huff on St. Peter’s prophecy that “: the elements will melt in fervent heat and the earth and works therein shall all be burned up.
The Chinese were evidently disappointed by the way the Americans disposed the balloon and ditched an important visit. They might as well have been disappointed, too that their balloon went astray and beyond their control. In a single event, pride, power and pomp went pfft with their lofty,crafty vessel blown out into the blue ocean by a jet missile.
So the question stays. Will the real superpower please stand up?
Communist Russia, the former Soviet Empire, is stuck in a war against democratic Ukraine, and doesn’t seem to know how to end, much less, win it. It’s nearly a year since he did the invasion, as long as how some traffic lights in the two cities of Pampanga have been out of order, Vladimir Putin, and two Pampanga chief executives are on the same boat. They didn’t know Bill Gate’s five Ps: proper preparation prevents poor performance.
China has been salivating to get back small Taiwan into the Middle Kingdom, by force if necessary, and there is no other way but. The West thinks the right window for Ping to do the job is between 2027 and 2030. Not now, when China’s economy is down, and Ping’s Marxist-Leninist doctrine has been exposed for what it is by China’s private sector. It’s the economy, sir or stupid.
Was the stray balloon China’s deliberate response to the recent announcement by both the US and the Philippine gpvernments that four new bases will b e allowed the Americans as part of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. China’s unbridled incursions into its neighbors’ territories in the South China Sea and its repeated threat that it will retake Taiwan by hook or by crook should be part of the diplomatic,political and military calculus of both countries.
At least China has a timetable. Putin is probably worried about his timetable on the war and his own as Russia’s president. Ukraine has turned the tide of war and the table on Putin. As for the two Pampanga city mayors, they’re clueless about when the DPWH will repair those broken traffic lights.
Will the fate of China’s balloon impact its plan about Taiwan and the world after the debris from the fallen airship shall have been recovered and confirmed to for what it really was: a spy balloon? The balloon was seen floating over a state where US hides its missiles, probably nuclear.
In the Philippines, China doesn’t have to send a balloon, by design or by accident. It has put up military bases in the country’s territories in the SCS. It has made it difficult for Filipino fishermen to make a decent living out of the fish and other marine resources they used to enjoy. It only makes perfect military and practical sense for both the US and the Philippines to agree, in principle, to a joint patrol of the SCS. The sooner the better for the practical side of the agreement to begin.
China can join the yearly international hot air balloon festival in Clark for a change, and refurbish its image after that bursting of its alleged meteorological or spy balloon into the ocean. It happens just about this time of the year when Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day are celebrated. A giant balloon in the shape of a tikoy will be a better entry than one in the shape of a gambling chip.
Sun Tzu’s advice resonates as ever : it’s better to win without fighting. Another writer suggests, the end of the world can wait.
