A prick would have sufficed.

Five days back, "The US has shot down a giant Chinese balloon that it says has been spying on key military sites across America." BBC. An F-22 jet fighter engaged the high altitude balloon with one missile - an AIM-9x Sidewinder - and it went down six nautical miles off the US coast," and "The military is now trying to recover debris which is spread over seven miles (11 km)." At the cost of $381,000 to nearly $400,000 for that one missile, wikipedia, it was a very expensive way to pop a cheap balloon. Presumably the F-22 Raptor carries a cannon, wikipedia, one burst of which could have caused multiple punctures in the balloon at a much lower cost and the debris would have been confined to a smaller area. Unless, it was a political stunt designed to boost President Joe Biden's poll ratings. "China expressed regret over the balloon over the US, saying it was a weather airship that had been blown astray." BBC. "Later the US reported a second Chinese balloon floating over Latin America." "It was equipped with multiple antennas capable of 'intelligence collection operations', a senior State Department official said in a background briefing." BBC. "US officials have described the balloon as being about 220 ft (60m) tall, with the payload portion comparable in size to regional airliners and weighing hundreds - or potentially thousands - of pounds." BBC. "Washington briefed 40 allied countries about the alleged espionage program earlier this week." "China's foreign ministry said the balloon was mainly used for meteorological purposes and had limited self-steering ability." Reuters. "The surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China's south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines," The Washington Post reported. ET. These balloons are operated by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force and "have been spotted over five continents". "US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a visit to China" because of "clear violation" of US sovereignty. Reuters. Also, "The United States will explore taking action against entities connected to China's military that supported the flight of a Chinese spy balloon into US airspace last week, a senior State Department official said." Reuters. Does China think it can bully all its neighbors without repercussions? Does it think it can conquer whichever country it wants? "Japan signed the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which bans it from developing nuclear weapons," but "Japan is happy to let neighbors like China and North Korea believe it is part of the nuclear club, because it has a 'bomb in the basement'," which is "9 tons of plutonium stockpiled at several locations in Japan and another 35 tons stored in France and the UK." NBC. "The US secured access to four additional military bases in the Philippines," with which, "Washington stitched the gap in the arc of US alliances stretching from South Korea and Japan in the north to Australia in the South." To counter the diabolical Chinese 'string of pearls' in the Indian Ocean surrounding India. India Times. Soon, China will collapse like a balloon. No one will help.