Fabricated balloon lie cannot be tied down to China

This is an editorial from China Daily.

A conspiracy theory about a surveillance balloon over Montana has aroused wide attention in the US - even though the photo they took is unclea, and features no sign linking it to China.

There is no way to know who fabricated the lie, but we can be sure about the ignorance of the fabricator. Surveillance balloons being used as military technology dates back to the early 20th century, the technology is outdated one can hardly imagine any nation like China still resorting to it today; at the same time, the shortest route between Beijing and Montana is over 9,000km, which makes it impossible to precisely control the flight of this or any balloon.

Those fabricating the balloon lie are clearly attempting to portray China in two ways that are contradictory to each other, both ways of which lack support; they are so keen to describe China as an enemy that they give up all rationality in the process, exposing their ignorance and lack of common sense to the highest extent.

What really deserves attention during the whole "balloon incident" is that some US media outlets and "experts" have claimed Montana is a highly sensitive place due to the fact there are about 150 intercontinental missile launching sites there, with confidential military information.

While the real question is why are the US hoarding such a large stockpile of weapons of mass destruction?