A Chinese Balloon and a Diplomatic Showdown

<p>On Wednesday, residents in Montana saw a mysterious object — a balloon — hovering and bobbing around in the skies. The enigma brought Americans out to squint at the heavens, caused a diplomatic visit to be canceled and opened a political debate.</p><p>How did a balloon end up kindling such tension between Washington and Beijing?</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/edward-wong?smid=pc-thedaily">Edward Wong</a>, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times.</p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>The Chinese balloon drifted for seven days across the United States.<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/us/china-spy-balloon-time.html"> Here’s a timeline of events</a>.</li><li>The balloon was<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/us/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down.html"> brought down by an air-to-air missile</a> fired at it off the coast of South Carolina.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p>