This article was originally published by Micahel Snyder at The End of the American Dream. 

It took a balloon for millions of Americans to finally realize that we really are on the brink of war with China.  When a four-star general recently warned that we would be fighting a war with China in 2025, that didn’t create too much of a stir.

And when U.S. Representative Michael McCaul stated that the odds of a war between the United States and China over Taiwan are “very high”, that barely made a blip in the news cycle.  But the giant “spy balloon” that just floated across our country really got people fired up.  Despite the fact that China has been relentlessly spying on us in countless other ways for years, many of our leaders are suddenly acting as if some huge change just happened.  They are issuing all sorts of very angry statements and they are demanding action from the Biden administration.  Meanwhile, the Chinese are pissed that we just shot down their “civilian airship” and they are warning that they have “the right to respond further”.

What this means is that we are now closer to war with China than we have been in decades.

And that is the real significance of this entire saga.

Long before it was fashionable to do so, I repeatedly warned my readers that war with China was coming.  Back then, a number of my critics thought I had gone off the deep end.  They argued that China was our friend and that we would never go to war with one of our most important trading partners.

But now suddenly vast hordes of Americans are waking up and realizing that the warmongers in Washington really do have us on the verge of an unthinkable conflict with the Chinese.

If you are one of those people, I have a message for you.

Welcome to the party.

What took you so long?

Needless to say, most Americans don’t want to have a war with China.

But we are going to have one anyway.

This whole episode with the mysterious Chinese balloon has brought tensions that have been simmering for months to a boiling point.  On Saturday afternoon, the U.S. military finally shot it down “off the South Carolina coast”…

A U.S. warplane shot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast Saturday afternoon, sending its surveillance gear into relatively shallow water where recovery efforts began immediately, Pentagon officials announced.

The balloon was downed after it passed into U.S. territorial waters, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.The balloon, which carried a large payload of spy gear according to U.S. officials, had soared over several strategic sites, including nuclear missile silos, and became the latest flashpoint in tensions between Washington and Beijing.

If this really was a “spy balloon”, why didn’t we shoot it down before it had a chance to collect so much information?

According to Joe Biden, he was concerned “about debris killing people on the ground”.

Seriously?

There was plenty of wide open space where it could have been shot down safely.

Now that it has been shot down over the ocean, it is going to be more difficult to retrieve the remains.

In any event, the Chinese continue to insist that this was not a “spy balloon” at all…

China claims that its balloon was a “civilian airship” and not the spy device the US claimed it to be, and said that the US’s decision to destroy its property “seriously violates international convention,” according to a statement obtained by The New York Times.

“In these circumstances, for the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction that seriously violates international convention,” the statement said. “China will resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved, and retains the right to respond further.”

Maybe the Chinese are correct.

Maybe this really wasn’t a spy balloon.

But then why did it fly over so many of our key military installations?

Gateway Pundit has made a list of all the military bases that this spy balloon flew near…

** Malstrom Air Force Base – Montana – home of 341st Military Wing
** Ellsworth Air Force Base – South Dakota – home of 28th bomb wing
** Joe Foss Field ANG – South Dakota – home of 114th fighter wing
** Sioux City ANG – Iowa – national gard base
** Offutt Air Force Base -Nebraska – headquarters US strategic command
** Camp Ashland – Nebraska –
** Lincoln ANG – Nebraska
** Whiteman Air Force Base – Missouri – home of B52 bombers
** Fort Leonard Wood – Missouri – Army training installation
** St. Louis Army Human Resources – St. Louis, MO
** Scott Air Force Base – Illinois – home of the Air Mobility Command
** Fort Campbell – Tennessee – home fo Screaming eagles, the 101st Airborne
** Nashville ANG – Tennessee
** Smyrna ANG – Tennessee
** Houston Barracks – Tennessee
** McGhee Tyson ANG – Tennessee
** Pope Air Force Base – North Carolina – Air mobility command
** Fort Bragg – North Carolina – one of the largest military installations in the world
** MCAS New River – North Carolina
** Camp Lejeune – North Carolina – military training facility
** US Coast Guard Station Fort Macon

And apparently, now there are two more Chinese “spy balloons” that have been identified…

A third Chinese spy balloon could be lingering near US interests, but officials won’t say where it is.

An anonymous source told the Washington Post a third balloon is likely operating near the US after the first balloon was discovered hovering over Montana on Thursday and another was found above Latin America on Friday.

Of course, it is quite true that the Chinese do not exactly need giant balloons to spy on us.

The Chinese can see pretty much whatever they want using their spy satellites, and their stealth drones are highly sophisticated.

As U.S. Senator Marco Rubio has pointed out, the Chinese have already been spying on us in many different ways…

On Friday’s “Mike Gallagher Show,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) stated that the Chinese spy balloon over the United States is “not the first time” and “We’ve seen these before.” He also stated that China can get the information it gets from the balloon from satellites, Huawei equipment that is installed in the United States, and “a million” different ways and China does so and the balloon is “just one more method that they use to collect intelligence on us.”

And most Americans don’t realize that the Chinese literally have an army of spies on the ground here in the United States.

If you don’t want to believe me, perhaps you will believe what Donald Trump just said…

Former President Donald Trump warned on Friday that China has “many thousands of spies working in the United States” in various industries amid a revelation that a Chinese spy balloon is flying over the continental United States.

“It’s rarely even mentioned that China has many thousands of spies working in the United States in business, finance, academia, technology, media and likely, even government, very sadly,” Trump declared.

A current member of Congress even slept with a known Chinese spy, but he has not been removed from Congress.

So with everything else that has already been going on, it amazes me that everyone is suddenly so upset about a giant balloon.

Whether or not this was actually a “spy balloon” or not, the truth is that the Chinese are going to continue to spy on us in countless different ways.

And whether or not the Chinese sent this “spy balloon” toward us on purpose or not, the truth is that they are going to continue to prepare for the coming war.

According to author Gordon Chang, the Chinese are currently “engaged in the fastest military buildup since the Second World War”…

“We know what the Chinese are doing,” Chang explained. “They’re engaged in the fastest military buildup since the Second World War. They’re trying to sanctions proof their regime and most ominously they’re preparing China’s civilians for war.”

Chang pointed to a recent move from Chinese President Xi Jinping shortly after he was appointed to his precedent breaking third term as General Secretary at the National Congress in October, when he appointed what is being referred to as the “war cabinet.”

And we also know that the Chinese have been busy making economic moves that would make sense if they believe that a war with the U.S. is approaching…

While we focus on the obvious, it’s important to also understand that from a monetary and financial perspective, it looks like China is preparing for war.

Notably, China is continuing to stockpile gold while selling U.S. Treasuries, an obvious step that a country readying either for war or to challenge the U.S. dollar on a global stage (or both) would be taking.

As Zero Hedge noted last month, China has now bought 100 tons of gold in days.

Once again, I want to make it very clear that I don’t want to see a war between the United States and China.

Because such a war would be absolutely horrific.

Unfortunately, anti-China sentiment is reaching a fever pitch in Washington, and the anti-American sentiment is reaching a fever pitch in Beijing.

We really are on the brink of the unthinkable, and once the missiles start flying there will be no going back.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled “End Times” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to the new book I have written six other books that are available on Amazon.com including “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  When you purchase any of these books you help to support the work that I am doing, and one way that you can really help is by sending copies as gifts to family and friends.  Time is short, and I need help getting these warnings into the hands of as many people as possible.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream, and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial, or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way you can share these articles with others is definitely a great help.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, I strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.