Balloon saga deflates efforts to mend US-China relations

Key Facts

We're investigating; we regret that it is our weather balloon blown off course; we think US politicians and media are hyping this up; everyone stay calm; the US attack on this airship is a serious violation of international practice.
Which is why many analysts think that, even if it was to some extent spying, the deployment of this balloon, in this way, at this time, had to have been an error on the Chinese side.
When a clearly visible, equipment-carrying balloon started floating close to US nuclear missile siloes, the assumption from some had been not only that it was spying but that it must have been sent as a message to the Biden administration.
Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Anthony Blinken was expected in China on 5 and 6 February But when you consider the damage it has done in terms of derailing a visit that the Chinese government, right up to the very top, wanted to happen, it is hard to see how this analysis stacks up.