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Comment by Salgat | Hacker News Reader

The leading theory US intelligence has put forward is that this was done by mistake, which explains why they haven't shot it down yet. They're trying to draw out this bizarre and embarrassing situation as much as possible while simultaneously showing that they don't feel threatened by it.

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If it's truly a mistake and I were tasked on handling this issue, I'll probably publicly notify the US about the the incoming balloon and tell them "feel free to shot it down before it reaches the US to prevent the balloon from causing any trouble".

The silence before the event went public tells me another story through.

Also because of upcoming talks between the US and China on easing Taiwan tensions.

These won't be off to a good start if they'd shoot down something Chinese now.

It should be shot down if the Chinese won't be up front about what it is and why it's here and continue to deny that it's theirs.

They're already off to a bad start with the Chinese surveillance balloon hovering over the US in the first place. Incredibly awkward. This kind of thing is not normal. That's why it's front page news. Well within rights to shoot it down or render it inoperable.

It's in US airspace with no apology or intention by the Chinese to remove it. Shooting it down is totally reasonable

They’ve since admitted that this occurred 3 times during the Trump administration and once at the start of the Biden administration, but never disclosed it to the public. That makes the ‘accident’ theory impossible to believe.

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