Business Post's View

Editorial: Weather balloon incident reveals serious chill factor in new cold war

Postponement of the first US diplomatic trip to China in four years was an over-reaction and a missed opportunity for rapprochement

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, was on the verge of making the first visit in four years of a US official to China, but delayed the trip after a Chinese surveillance balloon strayed into American skies. Picture: Getty

The Cold War rivalry between the US and the USSR was real and ferocious. Each was armed with nuclear weapons; each was capable of over-reaction. Yet the rivalry had its surreal moments, such as when, in 1987, a small plane piloted by a German teenager descended from the skies above Moscow and landed a few metres from Red Square.

Initially there was more of the latter incident about a rogue balloon spotted gliding serenely in ...