Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher on China Spy Balloon: They’re Mocking Us

Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher, chair of the House’s new committee on China, warns that a Chinese spy balloon spotted over U.S. airspace this week is the latest proof of the threat the People’s Republic of China poses at home.

And it won’t be the last time the communist nation attempts to mock and embarrass the United States under the Biden administration’s weak foreign policy, says Gallagher (R-WI-08).

Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), ranking member of the Select Committee on China, issued a joint statement Friday on reports of the spy balloon, which Pentagon officials say was seen flying over the Aleutian Islands and into Canada before moving into the central United States’ airspace.

“The Chinese Communist Party should not have on-demand access to American airspace. Not only is this a violation of American sovereignty, coming only days before Secretary Blinken’s trip to the PRC [People’s Republic of China], but it also makes clear that the CCP’s recent diplomatic overtures do not represent a substantive change in policy,” Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi said. “Indeed, this incident demonstrates that the CCP threat is not confined to distant shores—it is here at home and we must act to counter this threat.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his planned trop to Beijing next week.

“After consultations with our interagency partners, as well as with Congress, we have concluded that the conditions are not right at this moment for Secretary Blinken to travel to China,” a State Department official told reporters Friday.

Blinken’s trip had been in the offing since November, when President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping conferred at the Group 20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia…. (Excerpt from The Wisconsin Daily Star)