Was it really just a white balloon in the sky or does it have more meaning than that?

The Chinese spy balloon was spotted in the U.S. airspace on Jan. 28. President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. Air Force to shoot it down with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile on Feb. 4.

China claims that the “spy balloon” was a civilian airship sent up for research purposes and accidentally entered the United States due to weather currents. The public wonders whether they should be worried about the Chinese government.

“I think it’s pretty silly. And I think China’s definitely at fault,” said freshman Roman Lazas.

China was responsible for the air traffic of the balloon. Having it float into the airspace of the U.S. disturbed people greatly.

“Directly, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Joe Biden probably don’t have a problem with each other. However, the Chinese are, I think, personally a threat to our marketplace,” said junior Billy Dreier.

“They are very good at establishing businesses very quickly, and putting other businesses like it into debt, right through material costs and stuff like that,” Dreier said. “They’re a big producer of natural resources, big landmass. So, things like COBOL and earth mineral resources as well as I mean lumber, they export a lot of lumber and food is something that they use to put people into debt.”

While the Chinese sending a balloon off-course into the U.S. was not ok, China is responsible for a big portion of the products citizens have today. The Chinese produce a lot of U.S. resources. Plus, Biden and Jinping have a good relationship with each other.

“I think that Joe Biden is working hard to make us not so conflicting with each other,” Dreier said.

It’s better off that the U.S. and China have a good relationship. If not, the U.S. economy can potentially fail.

“I think what they’re doing with the spy balloon is testing our waters,” Dreier said.

China knows the U.S. will not retaliate by doing something big so they try to figure out how much they can get away with, according to Dreier. They have done it to other countries as well, causing people to panic.

“Like I said earlier with Australia and even the United Kingdom has some instances where China just sends over, like cargo freights and things like that for no reason to their airspace,” Dreier said.

According to Dreier, China wants to pressure the U.S. into an armed conflict, but the U.S. is choosing not to react because they’re aware of China’s motives.

“I think with the spy balloon, if not a testing, showing their power, in the sense that we’re scared to get into an armed conflict with them, and they know that and they’re using it against us,” Dreier said.

Alaska has been known to receive spy balloons from China and Russia. However, it’s in question as to if anything major will happen because of it.

“China and Russia both like to fly over Alaska and give a little warning and then bounce off. You know, I think that’s something that they do very often, but I don’t think that it’ll escalate above sending another spy balloon over the United States,” Dreier said.

The U.S. has very strong feelings when referring to China. It is hopeless to make an alliance with them, according to Dreier.

“I think that unfortunately, we are very against China. It almost seems hopeless to make an alliance with China,” Dreier said. “America is overall much more democratic and free, and I think that makes it so that Americans have their free choice to be afraid of China. But China is telling its people to be afraid of America and they’re using the war propaganda against us.”

America and China have different cultural dynamics. Because of this, it creates different opinions.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of though,” Lazas said. “It was shot down. Our radars picked it up long before it got over the United States. We just did it because of diplomatic reasons.”

“I am a little worried, but I think that hopefully it’ll solve itself out,” Dreier said.