‘Balloongate’ showcased US gunslinger approach to foreign policy

Washington attempted to call Beijing about the balloon only after it had shot it down – and then proceeded to shoot down another three objects

A policy of ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ may prove to be an expensive farce when executed in US airspace, but could be catastrophic if applied over the South China Sea

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Sailors with the US Navy recover material off the coast of South Carolina from the shooting down of a Chinese high-altitude balloon, on February 10. Photo: US Navy via AP

Daryl Guppy

Daryl Guppy is an international financial technical analysis expert.

Published: 9:37am, 23 Feb 2023

In the wake of “balloongate”, it appears the United States has expended more than a million dollars using US$439,000 missiles to shoot down three unidentified objects, including what may have been a US$12 hobbyist’s balloon. Apart from the farcical aspect of this incident, it highlights the worrying development of a gunslinger approach to foreign policy.

The gunslinger holds a unique and treasured place in American cowboy mythology, dispensing instant justice often before all the facts are known. It is this aspect of the United States’ sudden balloon-phobia that is most disturbing, because it reveals a heightened sense of insecurity and overreaction. Such a pattern of shoot first and ask questions later, applied in a wider context, signals a dangerous new phase of global instability.

Recent events have been compared to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis in terms of the need for an effective means of communication in times of crisis to avoid misunderstandings becoming catastrophic. Such a hotline already exists between the US and China but it appears that the gunslinger approach to foreign policy has destroyed its effectiveness.