--- title: "China Wants the Corpse of Its Balloon Back After the US Killed It With a Missile" description: "China's giant balloon, which had a structure hanging from it, was shot down by a US missile over the weekend — and now, China wants it back, please." date: "2023-02-08" modified: "2023-02-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-balloon-back-us-missile" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "balloon" - "china" - "the digest" --- # China Wants the Corpse of Its Balloon Back After the US Killed It With a Missile ![China's giant balloon, which had a structure hanging from it, was shot down by a US missile over the weekend — and now, China wants it back, please.]() *\Image: US Navy\* ## Give It Back Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about the [supposed Chinese meteorological balloon]() that veered way off-course last week, an event that strained an already frosty US-China relationship. The massive weather balloon, which had a large solar panel-powered structure hanging from it, was [shot down by a US missile]() fired by an F-22 Raptor over the weekend — and now China wants the wreckage back, please. "If you pick up something on the street, you should return it to the owner, if you know who the owner is," Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador to France, told French news channel *LCI* this week, as [quoted by *Bloomberg*](). ## Pretty Please His comments mark the first time Chinese officials have asked for the balloon's corpse back. During a follow-up press briefing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning reiterated that "the airship does not belong to the US. It belongs to China." Lu went as far as to use the opportunity to take a swipe at the US. "If the Americans don’t want to return it, that’s their decision," Lu said during the interview. "This demonstrates their dishonesty." Little love was lost. After the US shot down the balloon, China declined requests for a secure call between the two country's military officials, [*NBC* reports](), aimed to ratchet down tensions. ## Finders Keepers In short, it's a gigantic blame game between the two biggest superpowers in the world — over a high-altitude spy balloon. It's also far from the first time either country has mistakenly lost track of spy equipment in the other's territory. As *Bloomberg* points out, the US isn't entirely innocent, either. In 2001, Pentagon officials [asked China to return its spy plane]() after it collided with a Chinese fighter jet. At the time, China answered with a $1 million bill to cover the costs of housing the crew and returning the plane. **READ MORE:** [China Says US Should Return Debris From Balloon It Shot Down]() \[*Bloomberg*\] ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()