Kaine: China in many ways more than strategic competitor

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said China is an “adversary” after two more unidentified objects were shot down over North American airspace late last week, raising concerns that there were more objects like the suspected Chinese spy balloon flying over the country.

“We call it strategic competition but in a lot of ways it’s more than that. China is a competitor certainly but in some areas like this they’re also an adversary,” Kaine said in an interview on Fox News Channel. “One of the most disturbing pieces of news I heard this week was when [Defense Secretary] General [Lloyd] Austin tried to call his Chinese counterpart about the balloon incident, they didn’t pick up the phone.”

Public information about the objects shot down over the past few days have remained scant.

“I haven’t been given any more information than you,” Kaine said when asked during the interview about possible origins of the objects.

The first object was shot down after traveling through Alaskan air space on Friday and landed in U.S. waters. The second object was grounded by a U.S. fighter jet over Canadian territory after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the move.

But while Kaine could not offer more detail on the most recent objects that were shot down, he did issue a warning over the relationship of U.S. and Chinese officials, saying there needed to be communication between the two countries to avoid “unnecessary or accidental escalations.”

“You’ll remember during the Cold War, as tough as it was between the U.S. and Soviet Union, at least there was communication,” Kaine said. “We have to figure out a way to make sure that as challenging as the relationship is that the communication is thorough and robust so that we don’t accidentally have a miscalculation.”

Kaine also said the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was downed off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month was an example of “incompetence” from the Chinese government, as it spoiled a planned visit to the country by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“China really wanted to have this dialogue with Secretary Blinken,” Kaine said. “And so to have this happen right before that dialogue demonstrated some significant, I think incompetence and maybe kind of a left-hand right-hand problem where some elements of the Chinese military might be doing some things that the Chinese government is unaware of.”