Americans spent the weekend tracking the Chinese balloon that made its way across the U.S. with trip completion marked by a meeting with the wrong end of a missile fired from a U.S. fighter jet.
Most took to social media to either post memes making fun of the lack of response from the Biden administration or just making light of the whole thing, passing it off as a non-event. Unfortunately, it's much bigger than that.
There are many voices now speaking out, both in the media and those who are considered experts on U.S.-China relations, saying that a war could be on the horizon. At the very least, according to Gordon Change, a senior fellow at the Gatesone Institute, it's a dangerous precedent to set.
Gordon Chang on Fox Business:
In China's mind, that shows that we will not defend ourselves. I'm not saying that the Chinese are right, but that's the Chinese mentality. That's an extremely dangerous situation when they believe that.
Another voice of caution when it comes to China is New Jersey's own Congressman Chris Smith who joined me on the show Monday morning to weigh in on the situation.
We also know that the Chinese are going through a massive military buildup and have a history of spying and hacking American defenses.
Was this a weather balloon off track? Unlikely given the Chinese history of aggression.
Was it a test to see how Americans would react? Perhaps.
If this was a test, we failed miserably. Time to wake up, recognize our enemy and act accordingly.