Internet erupts with memes after Chinese spy balloon is shut down

The shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon created quite a stir, enraging Republicans who wanted it out of the skies sooner, and embarrassing Democrats and President Joe Biden who was accused of appearing weak.

But for much of the general public, the whole episode was a source of amusement that saw security experts and politicians speculate over something as seemingly innocuous as a balloon.

Trivializing the ordeal further was the claim that three Chinese balloons had entered the US during the Trump administration, but they were never shot down nor was it publicly mentioned.

Donald Trump has denied that, saying China would ‘never’ have sent a spy balloon over the United States on his watch, despite the Pentagon claims that it did happen during his presidency.

His son Donald Trump Jr. poked fun at the former president, sharing a meme that depicts him as a giant balloon baby, and suggesting it should be flown over China in retaliation.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has reacted negatively in the past to lighthearted suggestions he looks like Winnie the Pooh. This painting of Winnie the Pooh suspended from the balloon with a pair of binoculars was created by artist Travis Chapman

Donald Trump Jr. mocked the his father by suggesting an inflatable balloon depicting the former president as a baby should be flown over China in retaliation

Some used the drama as an opportunity to mock Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has reacted negatively in the past to lighthearted suggestions he looks like Winnie the Pooh.

Comparisons between Xi and Pooh first emerged in 2013, after Chinese social media users began circulating a pair of pictures that placed an image of Pooh and his slender tiger friend ‘Tigger’ beside a photograph of Xi walking with then-US president Barack Obama. 

In 2014, a photographed handshake between Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was matched with an image of Pooh gripping the hoof of his gloomy donkey friend Eeyore.

The lovable but dimwitted bear then became a symbol of dissent in China and government censors soon started erasing images mocking Jinping on social media. In 2018 Disney’s Winnie the Pooh film, ‘Christopher Robin’, was denied release in China.

In 2013, Chinese net users circulated pictures (above) that placed an image of Pooh and his slender friend ‘Tigger’ beside an image of Xi walking with then-US President Barack Obama

Military enthusiasts were quick to point out that the downing of the balloon marked the first air-to-air ‘kill’ for the F-22 Raptor fighter jet despite it being in service since 2005.

‘Shooting down China’s balloon was indeed the F-22’s first air-to-air kill,’ Rebecca Grant, an Air Force systems specialist and president of IRIS Independent Research, told Bloomberg in an email. ‘Americans watched an unfriendly aircraft get shot down over our skies.’

The F-22 first flew in 1997 and entered service in 2005. It didn’t make its combat debut until 2015 however, when it started flying missions against Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq, carrying out guided air strikes on ground targets.

Defense Publication the War Zone said it ‘may be the highest altitude air-to-air kill ever’ too. The F-22 fired a Sidewinder missile at the balloon from an altitude of 58,000 feet. The balloon at the time it was hit was between 60,000 and 65,000 feet.

A Sidewinder missile’s top speed is 1,900 mph, and each missile costs about $380,000.

Military enthusiasts were quick to point out that despite being in service for 17 years the downing of the balloon marked the first air-to-air ‘kill for the F-22 Raptor

Some poked fun at the Department of Defense for allowing something as seemingly innocuous as a balloon create such drama  

Others were amused by the Chinese claim that the balloon was just a weather balloon that had gone astray. The Department of Defense outright rejected those claims.

‘The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above U.S. territorial waters,’ Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. 

‘This was a PRC surveillance balloon. This surveillance balloon purposely traversed the United States and Canada, and we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites,’ the Department of Defense added in a statement.

Some were amused by the Chinese claim that the balloon was just a weather balloon that had gone astray

Donald Trump Jr. even encouraged the people of Montana to ‘do their thing’

Since the Biden administration took so long to eliminate the balloon, it was suggested that rifle-toting Americans in Montana should try and shoot it down themselves

This photo above was posted online with the caption: ‘pov: ur a chinese spy balloon flying over montana’

Some memes joked that the Biden administration was taking so long to eliminate the balloon that rifle-toting Americans in Montana could try and shoot it down themselves.

Donald Trump Jr. even encouraged the people of Montana to ‘do their thing’.

‘If Joe Biden and his administration are too weak to do the obvious and shoot down an enemy surveillance balloon perhaps we just let the good people of Montana do their thing,’ he tweeted on Friday.

‘I imagine they have the capability and the resolve to do it all themselves.’