China accused america of an “overreaction” when it used a fighter jet to shoot down a suspected surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast, as nationalist Chinese language commentators blamed runaway political strain in Washington for escalating the incident.
Washington
China blames U.S. politics for ‘overreaction’ to suspected spy balloon
“Below such circumstances, the U.S. use of pressure is a transparent overreaction and a critical violation of worldwide apply,” and China will “resolutely safeguard the official rights and pursuits of the corporate involved,” the ministry mentioned.
In a while Sunday, Chinese language Protection Ministry spokesman Tan Kefei added, with out elaborating, that the Chinese language navy reserved the best to make use of “needed means” in response to related incidents sooner or later.
Beijing is below rising strain to downplay the importance of the balloon and restrict diplomatic fallout as movies of an F-22 fighter jet’s missile puncturing it are shared extensively on Chinese language social media.
The balloon’s extremely seen journey throughout america induced a last-minute delay of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s journey to Beijing this weekend, undermining an try by Beijing to fix its most vital bilateral relationship. China replied that it had by no means formally introduced plans for the go to.
The setback is a humiliation for Chinese language chief Xi Jinping, who started his norm-defying third time period in workplace with a present of diplomatic friendliness that consultants interpreted as a practical effort to ease tensions with Western nations, as he offers with inside discontent over a slowing economic system and an enormous wave of coronavirus infections.
After an initially subdued and jokey response on Chinese language social media — the craft was dubbed “the wandering balloon,” a pun on Chinese language sci-fi blockbuster “The Wandering Earth” — nationalist web customers took a more durable tone on Sunday.
Influential commentator Hu Xijin blamed American “politicization” and “hype” for stopping the incident from escalating, saying that competitors to look robust on China meant that america “has already misplaced its objectivity.”
Earlier within the week, Chinese language commentators had poked enjoyable at america for not taking down the balloon instantly, with some highlighting that in 2019, a Chinese language J-10C fighter jets used missiles to shoot a “international high-altitude reconnaissance balloon” out of the sky over southwestern Yunnan province.
A senior Biden administration official responded to China’s assertion by saying that america is “assured [the balloon] was in search of to observe delicate navy websites” and that “its route over america close to many probably delicate websites contradicts the PRC authorities clarification that it’s a climate balloon.” PRC stands for the Folks’s Republic of China.
China believes the incident was largely brought on by home political strain in america and subsequently is not going to attempt to escalate additional, mentioned Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of Worldwide Research at Fudan College in Shanghai. “After all we aren’t blissful in regards to the choice to shoot it down,” however statements about taking additional motion had been extra “diplomatic posture” fairly than risk, he mentioned.
In accordance with Wu, america missed a chance to border the balloon as proof that Blinken’s go to to China was needed to enhance disaster administration, whereby Blinken “may have mentioned, ‘this makes clear that I must go to China to enhance communication over surprising incidents.’”
Mary Gallagher, director of the Worldwide Institute and a professor of political science on the College of Michigan, disagreed: “It was not possible for Blinken to go and negotiate actually exhausting points within the context of a really seen balloon floating over the U.S.”
The fallout for the bilateral relationship will partly rely upon whether or not the U.S. navy is ready to exhibit convincingly and publicly that gear recovered from the balloon was used for espionage. If the balloon is proven to be carrying surveillance gear, China can have been caught in a brazen try to spy on america.
However a extra sophisticated query is whether or not Xi was conscious of what has taking place earlier than america went public. Essentially the most highly effective Chinese language chief in a long time has partly justified his agency private rule by promising to make China safer, arguing that the nation faces an unprecedented degree of exterior threats requiring top-down management. If it was an accident left unresolved, then which will recommend Xi was out of the loop.
“If it was executed by the navy or an organization or the Chinese language Academy of Sciences with out his information … then that makes me nervous about what is going on in China domestically,” Gallagher mentioned.
Beijing’s incapacity to resolve the incident earlier than it escalated augurs badly for any future accidents involving the Chinese language navy in extremely charged environments just like the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea and East China Sea.
Analysts worry that eroded belief and restricted communication between Washington and Beijing will permit accidents from common navy workout routines or surveillance operations to escalate into worldwide incidents.
In December, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command accused the Folks’s Liberation Military of an “unsafe maneuver” that introduced a Chinese language fighter jet inside 20 ft of an RC-135 reconnaissance airplane, months after the Pentagon warned of an unprecedented spike in “aggressive” conduct from China in skies above the South China Sea.
The balloon incident exhibits that China wants to enhance transparency when accidents happen, mentioned Wu, the Fudan scholar. However he argued that such failures are mutual, citing an incident in 2021 when the U.S. navy waited days earlier than publicly disclosing details about a nuclear-powered Navy submarine that was broken throughout a collision within the South China Sea. “Either side must work out a approach to react extra instantly to accidents,” he mentioned.
Yasmeen Abutaleb in Washington, D.C., and Vic Chiang in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
Washington
George Washington’s stash of centuries-old cherries found hidden under Mount Vernon floor
Two glass bottles filled with centuries-old cherries were found hidden inside George Washington‘s historic home in Virginia.
Archaeologists made the discovery while conducting ongoing excavations as part of a major revitalization of the mansion, known as Mount Vernon. The bottles, which look like they were made in the 1740s to 1750s, were found buried beneath a brick floor that was laid in the 1770s, according to a Mount Vernon statement.
To help preserve the roughly 250-year-old glass bottles, researchers decanted their contents — including cherries, pits, stems and a “gooey residue” — into smaller vessels for future analysis, The Washington Post reported.
“There are whole, recognizable cherries,” Jason Boroughs, Mount Vernon’s principal archaeologist, told The Washington Post. “It actually smelled like cherry blossoms when we got to the bottom.”
Researchers think that much of the amber-colored liquid could be groundwater that seeped into the bottles as their corks deteriorated over time and that the cherries were likely harvested at Mount Vernon in the 1770s, possibly before the Revolutionary War, and squirreled away for future consumption. The bottles themselves were buried sometime between 1758 and 1776, The Washington Post reported.
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“So it’s a time capsule,” Boroughs said.
During colonial times, there was a popular drink known as cherry bounce, which was made with brandy, spices, sugar and cherry juice. (Both Washington and his wife, Martha, were fans.) However, typically, this tipple was stored in larger vessels, so archaeologists concluded that it’s likely that the newly discovered fruits were being preserved for other uses, such as for cooking or baking, The Washington Post reported.
“There are 18th century accounts that talk about proper ways of preserving fruits and vegetables,” Boroughs said. “One of the most common, especially for berries, is to dry them as much as possible … put them in a dry bottle, cork it … and then bury them.”
It’s worth noting that the cherries weren’t picked by Washington himself but rather by some of the hundreds of enslaved people living at Mount Vernon at the time, The Washington Post reported. Moreover, the famous tale of a young Washington damaging a cherry tree with a hatchet and later confessing to it because “I cannot tell a lie,” is a myth concocted by a biographer, according to George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
This isn’t the first time similar vessels containing aging cherries and other fruits have been found in Virginia. In 1966, bottles were unearthed in Williamsburg, and in 1981, some were found at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s estate.
Washington
Washington charter school performance on par with other public schools, state report says
Washington’s charter school students are scoring similar or better than their traditional public school peers, according to a new report released by the State Board of Education.
The report, which analyzes data from the 2022-2023 school year, also found Black and Hispanic students, English learners and children from low-income households are consistently performing better in charter schools than in traditional public schools.
And for nearly all student groups, improvement in English language arts and math was “statistically and meaningfully higher for the charter school students,” said Andrew Parr, author of the report and the State Board of Education’s research director.
“I think that’s the single most important thing I saw,” Parr said.
Washington has only 18 charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run. They enroll about 5,000 students statewide —a fraction of the total public school population, which is about one million students.
The state’s charter school law is unique in its emphasis on racial equity: 62% of students attending Washington’s charter schools are students of color, as opposed to just over 50% of the general public school population, according to the Washington State Charters School Association.
The new report comes as Why Not You Academy, a Des Moines charter school backed by former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, faces potential closure after the Seattle Times reported allegations of a toxic and chaotic environment.
While students at charter schools scored better or similar to their home school districts — depending on the subject area — on spring 2023 statewide tests, the percentage of charter school students regularly attending school is lower than their traditional public school peers.
Charter school students are also less likely to participate in dual credit courses, according to the report.
Parr said attendance across the state has declined since the pandemic, and can vary widely between schools. Charter schools may also be less likely to have the resources to offer dual credit, he added, because they receive less funding due to a state Supreme Court decision that barred charters from accessing local levy money.
In the report, the State Board of Education recommends increasing state funding for charter schools and allowing more charter schools to be authorized, as the window for authorizing charter schools under state law has closed.
Critics of charter schools often argue that they take money away from traditional public schools. But Parr said charter schools can push traditional public schools to improve because they create competition.
Research into the issue is mixed; whether charter schools drain money from traditional public schools often has to do with a state’s specific policies and the context of a district’s community.
This year, the Legislature allocated $7.8 million to charter schools, which will allow charters to receive $1,500 per student. Parr wants lawmakers to continue offering those funds in the future.
“That’s just a one-time thing. So that’ll help this year, and hopefully, it’ll be something that will be [offered] in the future…to really shore up charter school funding,” Parr said.
The Washington State Standard is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that provides original reporting, analysis and commentary on Washington state government and politics. We seek to keep you informed about Washington’s most pressing issues, the decisions elected leaders are making, how they are spending tax dollars and who is influencing public policy. We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Washington
Charges filed against 2 suspects accused of killing Washington County teen, injuring another
SOUTH FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — Charges have been filed against two suspects who are accused of shooting and killing a teenager in Washington County earlier this month.
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh on Monday announced that charges have been filed against Windale Barfield Jr. and Karon Whitlock in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Annalaya Wilkerson and the wounding of another juvenile female.
Wilkerson and the juvenile were found shot on the side of Jolly School Road in South Franklin Township on April 13.
Both men have been charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy, attempted homicide and aggravated assault, according to a press release from the district attorney.
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