There is increasing tension between world’s superpowers

It is bizarre that, deep into the 21st century, we witnessed one of the most sophisticated aircraft yet flown – an American F-22 Raptor fighter – using a high-tech rocket to shoot down one of the oldest and most primitive aircraft in the sky – a Chinese “weather balloon”.

According to the US department of defence, the “splashing” of the balloon followed its week-long incursion into American airspace.

Washington said the balloon was spying; Beijing angrily denied that and said the airspace violation was merely a case of a weather balloon straying.

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While the Americans continue to keep accusing China of spying, they also admitted that their military and intelligence agencies had taken steps to ensure that the Chinese craft could get nothing of value during its overflight.

Officials even went further, saying US agencies had turned the situation to their advantage by gleaning evidence on the way China executes spy missions.

This may seem very much like the proverbial storm in a teacup when it comes to the other grave issues facing the world. Yet, it is an indication that there is increasing tension between the world’s number one superpower, the US, and the country which wants that top spot, China.

While the Chinese have been nowhere near as belligerent and imperialistic as the Americans have been across the globe since the end of World War II, Beijing is expanding its influence in many far-flung parts.

The Americans have accused Chinese companies – like Huawei – of being fronts for Chinese intelligence and accused them of electronically harvesting data on billions of people and foreign governments.

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That is ironic, given the stratospheric level of information gathering conducting by American-owned communication and social media giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

However, the fact that the battlefields are changing doesn’t make this superpower confrontation any less frightening.