In an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Mahmoud Dehghan, referred to the end of the operation to recover the remains of the Chinese balloon by the American army and announced that the hypothesis of the balloon being a spy had been strengthened and stated: The pressure of the United States to control China and weaken Russia, which has been for years, unfortunately, due to Russia’s mistake in relation to Ukraine, it entered a stage which has depleted Russia’s power and the West has isolated that country with sanctions. The US is trying to slowly implement this policy towards China as well.

He pointed to the warnings of the US officials that the Chinese balloon had passed over three nuclear sites and had special capabilities, adding: It seems that China has expanded its competition with the United States to the field of intelligence and security, and this has caused concerns about the intensification of China’s surveillance activities in the US and expansion of competition with that country from the economic field to the intelligence and espionage arena. Certainly, on the other hand, the US will intensify its measures against China in those areas.

The analyst of international issues pointed out: The possibility of surpassing of China’s gross national product is a threat to Washington, and this issue has serious and numerous consequences for the United States by jeopardizing the position of the dollar. For this reason, the US seeks to create problems for China in many areas.

The professor of international relations stated that China is in a difficult position in terms of territorial integrity and security measures taken by Europe and the United States, as well as dealing with its internal and human rights issues, adding: The United States, in order not to allow China to achieve a better position, will take any measure in its power, as we saw that it sanctioned six Chinese entities related to Beijing’s aerospace programs, and cancellation of Blinken’s trip to China also showed that the US will not stop imposing any kind of costs on China.

Dehghan continued: The diplomatic tension between Beijing and the White House increased with the flying of the American balloons at high altitudes in areas of Xinjiang and Tibet that have particular sensitivities for China; up to the point that the Chinese defense minister did not respond to the call of Lloyd Austin, his American counterpart. Of course, in those cases, the Democrats try to pretend and take a dialogue pose and accuse the Chinese authorities of closing their military contact channels with any incident in order to gain an upper hand in public opinion.

Saying that according to the news, China has been using those balloons for years and declaring that the flight over the US was a mistake is not acceptable and the balloons have the ability to stay at a fixed point and transmit its images, he added: The US has the possibility to bring China into a position that creates tension; as currently, although it is completely far from Ukraine, it has been able to have a serious presence in the war scene and secure its interests at the expense of Europe.

Referring to the remarks of the US president that they are competing, but not looking for conflict, the international affairs analyst emphasized: tensions between China and the US will continue; to the extent that the US prefers to wage a proxy war in various fields instead of a direct war, which costs it a lot of money. In this framework, North Korea’s behavior stems from China’s strategies and threatens that if a problem ever arises, it may turn into a nuclear war that Beijing will not pay for.

Dehghan pointed to the intensification of tensions between Beijing and Washington after the downing of the Chinese balloon over the American sky and by stating that if this balloon does not have equipment and spying purposes, the United States has the possibility to deal with it with fake stories and still put other countermeasures on the agenda and impose costs on China, he said: this situation can fully arouse American public opinion and bring them along with it in applying pressures.

He explained: The Biden administration is seeking to ban the investment of some Chinese companies in the field of technology and destroy the investment of billions of dollars by American investors in the sensitive parts of China. In the current situation, the US can fully attract the positive view of public opinion for the implementation of such policies.

According to the university professor, the US will not let China achieve superiority in the economic field in any way, even if it has to lead to war. The US does not want to weaken the position of the dollar and withdraw from the monetary support of countries. If this position weakens, Europe will no longer be able to keep up with the United States. Therefore, such actions carried out by the United States are small pieces of a large operation that is carried out to prevent China from becoming the first power. If those small pieces fail to stop China’s growth, the US will take more serious action.

Recalling that the sudden stop of China’s growth will create numerous political and economic crises for that country, Dehghan emphasized: The current tensions and crisis-making between the US and China will continue for at least a 25-year period in the future, and the world will move towards a dangerous military confrontation. In that period, Washington uses every movement of China as an Achilles heel against that country.