2023 Chinese balloon incident facet of China–United States relations
U.S.–China tensions
The 2023 balloon incident occurred while U.S.–China relations were at their worst in decades, following suspected incidents of Chinese espionage and amid increasing strategic competition in military and economic sectors. In 2022, the United States, along with some of its allies, imposed stringent export controls on "foundational technologies", such as semiconductor microprocessors, to China in order to hamper the latter's development of advanced technology and military tools. The US has also sought to maintain critical supply chains independent from China.
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