Farid Kahhat: Thinking of China’s hot air balloon as a spy target is ‘too gross’

International Analyst Farid Kahhat On Tuesday, he pointed out that treating the Chinese hot air balloon as an object of espionage is “too rude” because of its large size and how visible it is to the naked eye in its path. This is after the United States shot down the device and reported the destruction of three more flying over their territory.

In an interview program News Extension, Farid Kahhat pointed out that China admitted that the balloon was intended for meteorological research, and USA alleged spy function. In addition, he pointed out that the Pentagon has warned that if the device flies over objects of strategic interest, such as nuclear mines in Montana, it will add “limited value” to the information that Beijing can receive via satellites.

“The reaction of the North American government, in my opinion, is more subject to domestic political reasons than to the real risks that the fact that this balloon crosses the sky of North America could imply,” he said.

Farid Kahhat explained that the incident occurred before the Secretary of State for USAAnthony Blinken, visit Chinaduring the first trip by a US foreign secretary to an Asian country since 2018.

“As an object of espionage, he is too rough, the size of three buses, crossed several countries and part of the way was visible to the naked eye,” he said. In addition, the internationalist recalled that Beijing has hundreds of military satellites orbiting the Earth’s atmosphere.

“No one yet knows what the remaining three objects were, and everything seems to indicate that they are not unusual events, that objects of this type have already been discovered in the past, but now it is urgent to bring them down so as not to appear weak before China because Trump called for them to be removed; and even the Democratic leadership sectors in the House of Representatives have done the same. This is a reaction that is connected, I repeat, with domestic political issues, and not with issues of national security, ”he added.

Peter’s statements

On the other side, Farid Kahhat considered “absolutely unfortunate” and “inappropriate” the statements of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who compared the movement of agents of the National Police of Peru in the midst of protests with the Nazis.

“(Comparison with the Nazis) was also made in relation to the Colombian state for the destruction of the militants of the left party in the 1980s, about which there was a decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, but it is especially regrettable that, on the one hand, such a comparison is made with Peru, and on the other hand, is silent about the authoritarian behavior of left-wing governments such as Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba,” he said.

In connection with the proposal approved by the Commission on Foreign Relations, rejecting the statements of Gustavo Petro and declaring him persona non grata, Farid Kahhat He argued that this figure does not correspond to a person who is not accredited as a diplomat in the country, and pointed out that this will not help, since the President of Colombia will be in power until 2016.

“This is not only a neighboring country, this is a country with which we share the care of the Amazon, the Andean community of nations and the protection of a common border, we should be able to have a dialogue with this government. I think what the Foreign Ministry has done is appropriate to protest, but I’m afraid this is not the end of the story,” he said.

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Fernando Carvallo selects information and shares his vision of national and international news. subscribe to our Las cosas newsletter, as they should be reading your daily columns.