The 2023 Chinese balloon incident was a diplomatic episode in which a large Chinese high-altitude balloon crossed Canadian and United States airspace, drifting over sensitive military sites in Montana before it was shot down by a missile fired by a US fighter jet over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of South Carolina. The Chinese government said it was a civilian weather research airship that had been blown off course, while American officials said it was a surveillance balloon. The affair led the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to postpone a planned visit to Beijing, and it intensified political debate in the United States about the response and about relations with China.
Before and after
- 20232023 becomes the warmest year on record
- 9 January 2023Discovery of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS)
- 15 January 2023Premiere of The Last of Us
- 27 January 20232023 Jerusalem synagogue shooting
- from 1 February 2023 to 4 February 20232023 Chinese balloon incident
- 3 February 20232023 Ohio train derailment
- 6 February 20232023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes
- 6 February 2023Release of Gemini
- 26 February 20232023 Huwara rampage
More in Wars, politics & history
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- 10 December 1948Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953Korean War
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- from 16 May 1966 to 6 October 1976Cultural Revolution
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The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.