Retired Senior Colonel Zhou Bo told DW that the errant Chinese balloon was an accident, and that Washington should stop over-reacting to what was an honest mistake. The balloon which Washington said was likely gathering intelligence, has been described by Beijing as collecting “weather” data. It drifted over US airspace last week before being shot down by a US Air Force F-22. Zhou said US-China relations had too many important issues to address that shouldn’t be “overshadowed by a symbolic balloon.”
Zhou added that he was worried by the climate of “extreme competition” between the US and China, saying it could lead to conflict, especially over Taiwan and disputes over Chinese activities in the South China Sea. The retired People’s Liberation Army officer told DW’s Tim Sebastian that Beijing was remaining impartial in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“If China took Russia’s side we are probably already in the Third World War.”
Zhou said Vladimir Putin was unlikely to emerge as a victor from the war, but Russia was too big and powerful to lose.
Speaking from Beijing, Zhou is a senior fellow of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University.
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:00 Senior Colonel (retired) Zhou Bo, PLA
01:20 Beijing's response to US shooting down alleged spy balloon
03:28 China claims it was a weather balloon that went off course
03:43 US missile silos in Montana
04:18 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visit
07:35 Pentagon reports of other Chinese balloons
08:00 Taiwan invasion plans
08:23 US domestic divisions and relations with China
10:45 Is Beijing sitting on the fence over Russia's war in Ukraine?
11:30 If China took Russia's side, we would probably be in a Third World War
12:51 Is Putin's nuclear blackmail a step too far for China?
13:20 Hiroshima, Nagasaki and lessons learned
13:56 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visit with Xi Jinping & G20
15:01 Russian war crimes in Ukraine, rape, executions, deportations
16:00 NATO expansion, Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin & Vladimir Putintgreat
16:45 Nuclear deterrence & North Korea, Pakistan, Iran amd UK & France
19:39 Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visit to Taiwan
20:08 China's willingness to use force, threats against Taiwan
22:05 Is Hong Kong Beijing's model for Taiwan?
23:33 Democarcy in China and end of Zero COVID lockdown
24:33 How danderous does the world seem from Beijing?
25:00 How far is extreme competition from conflict with US?
