Balloon-gate Ends with a Bang

The moment the balloon was shot down by an F-22 fighter jet

The deed was done -- an F-22 fighter jet shot down the giant Chinese so-called weather balloon as it was hovering over the Atlantic Ocean, six miles off the coast of South Carolina.

Thus came the end of the balloon saga, following US President Joe Biden's order.

"I told them to shoot it down," he said on his way to Camp David. "They said to me, let's wait until the safest place to do it."

Biden gave a statement after the ballon was shot

And so it was shot down at 2.39pm EST, and the Pentagon said the Navy and Coast Guard would recover as much of the debris for further examination.

Meanwhile the Chinese expressed its "strong discontent and protest" about the downing of the balloon, repeating its explanation that it was a civilian aircraft that had inadvertently strayed into North American air space.

"In these circumstances, for the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction that seriously violates international convention," the Chinese foreign ministry statement said. 

"China will resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved, and retains the right to respond further."

The US told the Chinese the possibility of them shooting down the balloon -- it was floating over the US for seven days, thus giving the Chinese several opportunities to own up to the incident, but apparently its reason was not convincing enough.

The debris is being recovered for examination

Some experts say the balloon may have been literally a trial balloon to see how the US would react, and others say perhaps Beijing is testing its latest surveillance capabilities.

In any event, there is now a second balloon flying over South America... 

What is hard to understand is why this balloon mission was given the green light at this time, further ratcheting up tensions between China and the US. Is Xi Jinping looking for a fight on the last day of the Lunar New Year?