My farewell thoughts on China after nearly a decade reporting there: A reborn empire is a showcase of hard power.
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Edward Wong
@ewong
Diplomatic Correspondent . Fellow @ Harvard Nieman, Belfer Center & Wilson Center. Visiting professor @ Princeton & Berkeley. 13 years in China & Iraq.
Edward Wong’s Tweets
New on China spy balloon: Some US officials proposed using a giant net or hook on it. Austin & Milley said trying to lasso it was a bad idea. And the 3 balloons in Trump era were discovered after the administration left, an official says. w/ .
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A balloon blows up US-China diplomacy: Blinken & Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of state, secretly confronted Chinese diplomats in Washington about the spy balloon on Wed. Then on Friday, he canceled his trip to Beijing. w/ @helenecooper @ChuBailiang. nytimes.com/2023/02/03/wor
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Weekend spy balloon exclusive from me and : Classified report from US intelligence to Congress reveals mystery episodes of high-tech aerial surveillance by a foreign nation. At least 2 US military bases were targeted. China is main suspect.
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Inside 7 days of a high-flying crisis: How a Chinese spy balloon went from Alaskan islands to being shot down off the coast of South Carolina. Along the way, it ignited a diplomatic clash and punctured Blinken’s planned trip to Beijing. w/ .
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Meanwhile, in South Carolina…
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“That’s no moon.” Yes, there are reports that the Chinese balloon is flying over our area at the moment. It’s flying at 60,000+ feet. Don’t try to shoot it!! Your rifle rounds WILL NOT reach it. Be responsible. What goes up will come down, including your bullets #YCSONews
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Breaking: US jets shoot down Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. It’s an explosive end to an espionage drama that had punctured diplomacy between two superpowers. Will Blinken go to Beijing soon? It’s up in the air. w/ .
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VIDEO of US Shoot Down of #China Balloon moments ago over coast of North Carolina, ending > 2 days saga:
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Michael Steinberg
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Will the story of the week now deflate?
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Here’s a video from my high school English teacher of the balloon being shot down over South Carolina. (Thanks to Mrs. Ellis for being a great teacher and for sending video of the live news!)
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Breaking News: The U.S. has shot down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, ending a dramatic saga that inflamed tensions between the world’s two great powers.
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Has the US used spy balloons? Yes. In 1947, a US spy balloon crashed at Roswell, NM. The US government allowed the public to indulge in conspiracy theories that a UFO had crashed there & was being hidden by the US. reported on this recently.
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New: Before the Chinese spy balloon arrived, a classified report hit Congress telling of foreign surveillance of military sites with advanced technology. and I report:
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A balloon blows up US-China diplomacy: Blinken & Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of state, secretly confronted Chinese diplomats in Washington about the spy balloon on Wed. Then on Friday, he canceled his trip to Beijing. w/ .
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“China was chasing us, and they had a knife,” said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
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Blinken postpones trip to Beijing after a Chinese high-altitude balloon, described as an “intelligence-gathering” airship by the Pentagon and a stray civilian device by China, was detected floating over the US this week.
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China says the balloon is a civilian craft used for scientific research that accidentally strayed from its planned route fmprc.gov.cn/fyrbt_673021/2
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Someone I follow has retweeted this balloon thread from last July. I imagine we will see more of this today.
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I'm not sure people realize how big of a deal this is. High-altitude balloons might not be as sexy as autonomous weapons or hypersonics but I think they have the potential to be just as revolutionary for warfare, if not more so. 
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Colleague wrote on UFOs and now she is writing on a spy balloon from China hovering over Montana. Latest development: Canadian officials say they are tracking a spy balloon too.
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1. ICYMI: We had a flurry of stories from Southeast Asia yesterday. First, from the Philippines -- the U.S. and the Philippines both agreed that the U.S. would significantly increase its military presence in the country.
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Biden & aides keep saying they do not seek to contain China. But the announced expansion of the US military presence across the Philippines might say otherwise. And it’s a signal US might send troops to defend Taiwan if China attacks. w/ .
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In a sign of how toxic the conversation about the coronavirus vaccines has become within the GOP, Mr. Trump’s allies are building a file of “opposition research” on Mr. DeSantis that consists of videos of him praising the vaccine in its early days.
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The US says Russia is failing to comply with the New START Treaty, the only remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the 2 nations. Russia said in August it would not allow US inspectors to examine its nuclear arsenal, citing the Ukraine war.
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Three separate people e-mailed me this new poem, lest I miss it—it’s that much of an event. What it does, and how, is astonishing.
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Amid fears of an explosion of violence, Blinken meets with Palestinian leader Abbas in the West Bank nytimes.com/2023/01/31/wor
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It's been about 6 months since I started a job in government.
The learning curve can be steep at first — especially if you're unfamiliar with the parlance of bureaucrats.
For the uninitiated, here's a 🧵 with some commonly used phrases and what they mean in plain English:
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Memphis police officers unleashed at least 71 commands at Tyre Nichols. Many were contradictory or impossible. When he couldn’t comply — and even when he managed to — officers responded with escalating force.
See the New York Times visual investigation.
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NEW: Video of Tyre Nichols Beating Raises Questions About Medical Response. Tyre writhed in pain after he was beaten by Memphis cops, but two Fire EMTs mostly stood by, not touching him. w/ and
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This is not normal.
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The Associated Press Stylebook has long been a basic guide for news writers. So it was news, of sorts, when The A.P. retreated on a recommendation that had offended France.
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US officials say a purge of government officials shows that Zelensky is a serious corruption fighter. But the country’s history is cause for worry. with
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NYT covers TikTok's more public stance in Washington.
Includes my $.02, that "The issue has become public in a way that they can't ignore." Politicians are trying to preempt the elaborate CFIUS arrangement they've toiled over. Now they make their case.
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Lots of great detail here on the dead-end investigation by Durham in the Justice Dept. (and begun under Barr) that was boosted by right-wing media & political figures. By , Adam Goldman and . nytimes.com/2023/01/26/us/
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Blinken goes to Beijing soon — first cabinet-level visit by US official since pandemic began. State Dept. just said: “The Secretary is meeting on Capitol Hill this morning to discuss the Administration’s approach to the PRC with a bipartisan group of House members and Senators.”
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The GOP & Mitch McConnell have been silent on Trump's recent series of racist attacks against Elaine Chao, former transportation secretary & McConnell's wife. Trump has a spokesman of Asian descent, Steven Cheung, who defends the attacks.
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Tanks are done, next up are the fighter jets: Adviser to Ukrainian defense minister says Kyiv will now push for Western fourth generation fighter jets such as the U.S. F-16 after securing supplies of main battle tanks.
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This is political "discourse" in the US.
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Spanish police have arrested a Spanish man in the investigation of the 6 letter bombs sent to leaders & diplomats last year. US officials said recently they think associates of a far-right group mailed the bombs under direction of Russian military intel.
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From the Editorial Board:
Mike Pompeo’s embrace of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after Jamal Khashoggi's murder is revolting. wapo.st/3XEzjTk
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