Assessing already tense U.S.-China relations after the Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down.
Welcome to VOA Asia Weekly. I'm Chris Casquejo in Washington. That story is coming up, but first, making headlines.
The United States has renewed a warning that it will defend its treaty ally the Philippines if Filipino forces come under attack in the disputed South China Sea. The statement came after the Philippines accused a Chinese coast guard ship of beaming a military-grade laser at a patrol vessel that briefly blinded some of its crew.
12 years after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear catastrophe, workers at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant are preparing to release treated wastewater into the sea. Operator TEPCO said the water has been filtered to remove most radioactive elements and called the release both safe and necessary. Pacific Island leaders have urged Japan to delay the release over fears the discharge may not be safe.
One of Cambodia’s last free media outlets, Voice of Democracy radio, ceased operations Mondays. Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered its closure after it alleged that Hun Sen’s son, Lt. Gen. Hun Manet, signed a $100,000 donation on his father’s behalf for Turkey earthquake relief aid. VoD acknowledged it made a mistake. The closure comes ahead of general elections set for July.
ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of social media platform TikTok, became the fourth-largest Internet company in spending on federal lobbying as of last year, according to newly released data from non-profit OpenSecrets. ByteDance spent 5.4 million dollars in 2022 alone. Only Amazon and the parent companies of Facebook and Google spent more last year on lobbying efforts.
The White House says the three unidentified aerial objects shot down, including one over Canada, in the past week were likely benign. Military officials also disclosed that a missile fired at one of the objects, over Lake Huron on Sunday, missed its intended target and landed in the water before a second one successfully hit.
As Washington searches for answers about the surveillance balloon and unidentified aerial objects, one thing is clear: China-U.S. relations have taken a hit. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.
There are many questions about the three unidentified flying objects the U.S. military has shot down in as many days. White House officials offered one theory on why the military is suddenly finding more of these flying vessels: because these are the objects they’re looking for.
“If you set the parameters in such a way to look for a certain something, it's more likely that you're going to find a certain something.”
On Friday, less than a week after downing a Chinese balloon over the eastern shore of the United States, the U.S. military shot down a UFO over Alaska. On Saturday, the U.S. worked with the Canadian military to take down another over the Yukon territory. And on Sunday, a third was shot from the sky into Lake Huron. People should not panic, Kirby said.
“We do not assess that these most recent objects pose any direct threat to people on the ground.”
But if the truth is out there, it’s clouded by China’s anger over what they say is unfair U.S. punishment for a weather balloon that simply drifted off course and across the entire continental U.S.
“The U.S.’ abuse of force, overreaction and escalation of the situation goes against the spirit of international law and against international practice. Now (they are) hyping up, exaggerating and exacerbating (the situation), using this as an excuse to illegally sanction Chinese enterprises and organizations.”
The White House said there is no current plan for President Joe Biden to talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Kirby said the Chinese military is “not interested” in speaking to the U.S. defense secretary. He also repeated claims that the U.S. does not have surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace.
That, says analyst Emily Harding, sets up tension with Beijing and raises serious questions for Washington – questions that Kirby could not answer when asked on Monday.
“I think the message sent to Beijing is, ‘Hey, we caught you. We know what you're up to. Cut it out.’ I think the more interesting question right now for the Pentagon is going to be, what are the rules of engagement on these? Suddenly, we found these objects that are floating over the northern United States – and are we going to try and shoot down every single one of them that floats over the airspace or are we going to come up with a much better way of determining what is and is not a national security threat?”
Which leaves the biggest question of all: once investigators learn what the objects are and what they were doing – what then?
Finally, Air India is placing orders for 470 Boeing and Airbus aircraft, a sign of surging travel demand in a nation with a swelling middle class.
Air India is ordering 220 Boeing aircraft valued at $34 billion dollars.
It is U.S.-based Boeing's third largest sale of all time, in dollar value, and its second of all time in quantity.
Visit voanews.com for the most up-to-date stories. Thanks for watching VOA Asia Weekly. I’m Chris Casquejo. Until next week.
