I'll preface this by saying I'm 110% sure it's what China says it is. Every other explanation I've heard is dogshit but there two that are slightly less dogshit than the others:
This is just a tit-for-tat move by China. It's part of the "payback" for Pelosi's visit to Chinese Taipei and other various incursions by the US military near Chinese airspace and water. So in this scenario, it doesn't matter if it's just collecting weather data or spying... the goal is just to send a message. On the surface this seems a little bit plausible but it really doesn't mesh with how China tends to respond to these things. Interesting that this theory doesn't even necessarily dispute it's just a weather balloon.
It really is trying to get data on US missile sites. Because really, the US military is not a threat to ever take over the Chinese mainland. If a war broke out, the only serious threat China faces is US nukes, so they want to get as much data as possible. But this one really doesn't make sense because you have to assume China has some unknown surveillance tech in there, that they directed the balloons in just the right spots, and that they would risk losing this unknown tech (unlikely they would be able to salvage the balloon). And I don't think the balloon ever actually got close to the nuclear sites, anyway.
I'll preface this by saying I'm 110% sure it's what China says it is. Every other explanation I've heard is dogshit but there two that are slightly less dogshit than the others:
This is just a tit-for-tat move by China. It's part of the "payback" for Pelosi's visit to Chinese Taipei and other various incursions by the US military near Chinese airspace and water. So in this scenario, it doesn't matter if it's just collecting weather data or spying... the goal is just to send a message. On the surface this seems a little bit plausible but it really doesn't mesh with how China tends to respond to these things. Interesting that this theory doesn't even necessarily dispute it's just a weather balloon.
It really is trying to get data on US missile sites. Because really, the US military is not a threat to ever take over the Chinese mainland. If a war broke out, the only serious threat China faces is US nukes, so they want to get as much data as possible. But this one really doesn't make sense because you have to assume China has some unknown surveillance tech in there, that they directed the balloons in just the right spots, and that they would risk losing this unknown tech (unlikely they would be able to salvage the balloon). And I don't think the balloon ever actually got close to the nuclear sites, anyway.