The Kordes K orner

BY BOB MORGAN, JR. PhotograPhy history John Ellis Kordes

gram by China?

The spy balloon (yes, China claims that it was just a weather balloon that went off course) apparently first appeared over United States territory in the Aleutian Islands on January 28. For some reason it was allowed to fly over Canada before reentering the United States over Idaho on January 31 and then overflying Montana on February 1, where sightings of the balloon finally received local and then national media attention.

The Biden Administration then announced that a meeting in Beijing between Secretary of State Antony Blinken scheduled in a few days had been postponed. President Biden was briefed by the Pentagon and apparently followed its advice not to shoot down the balloon immediately to prevent civilian casualties from the debris. Eventually, the balloon was destroyed after it reached territorial waters just off South Carolina and the United States military is attempting to retrieve it contents.

To put it mildly, this story raises numerous questions. How did the balloon manage to escape the joint U.S.-Canada NORAD surveillance? How much sensitive information was the balloon able to discover and did it have immediate capability to transmit data to China? If as claimed, the balloon was first discovered near the Aleutians, why was it not taken down immediately? The idea of civilian casualties there seems very farfetched, even more so than over thinly populated Montana. Why was there no disclosure to the public until the balloon reached Montana? Was there an intention to hush up news about the balloon so that Secretary Blinken could make his trip to Beijing? Have there been previous balloons, including during the Trump Administration discussed in thinly sourced reports, and indeed was the balloon just one part of a massive global aerial spy pro-

Obviously, the balloon story reinforces what many Americans already know. China is a major global military and economic rival of the United States. While China has economic reasons to stay out of armed conflict with the United States, it also has significant territorial and geopolitical ambitions. China has attempted to be influential in Africa, and Chinese companies have even opened a number of factories in Mexico. Indeed, an attempt by China to take over Taiwan, a democratic country that has been independent of the mainland since the 1940’s, would truly roil world affairs and provoke a very difficult decision in the United States about intervention.

Of course, in thinking about China, it is often well to remember that the country has had numerous failures as well as successes in recent years. The country’s one-child policy has led to a potential shortage of younger workers in a country that seeks to lead the world in industrial production. More recently, China policy toward Covid, from repressive attempts to eradicate the virus completely to the use of less effective vaccines often not available to elderly people, has made it the only country that has not been able to put the virus behind it.

Of course, the many issues with China reverberate in other foreign policy spheres. As the United States and its European allies attempt to assist Ukraine in resisting the Russian invasion, China is helping the Russians, despite Western sanctions. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that China is providing technology that Russia needs in its war effort. Customs records show Chinese state owned defense company shipping navigation equipment, jamming technology and jet fighter parts to Russian companies.

It may be that Chinese balloon launches, even with the recent odd handling and many unanswered questions, will not end up as a major threat to the United States. But the balloon episode does point up the need for the present and future administrations to be vigilant toward China and regard relations with China as a major geopolitical challenge.

Here is a rare photo taken in 1954 along Old Country Road looking southeastward. The houses under construction on the horizon is the northeast section of Garden City. That would be the Pell Terrace - Avalon Road area. The barren land in the foreground would soon be covered with new houses.

The large natural gas tank on the distant horizon was located on Stewart Avenue east of Raymond Court. Also, note Old Country Road had a median back then and only two lanes each way. Decades later Old Country Road, near the intersection of Glen Cove Road, was expanded greatly, making it as wide as a highway there.