Online Public Relations Thoughts

The US secretary of state has deferred a meeting with China's President because of a Chinese "spy balloon" entering US airspace.  The Chinese say it was a weather balloon that went astray.  The US shot it down and is retrieving the wreckage.  A question is, what if the Chinese are right and the US is using propaganda to tar the Chinese?  A proper response to the incident would be to withhold judgement until the wreckage has been thoroughly examined. Instead, US authorities rushed to conclusions.  That has already escalated tensions with the Chinese and it could set up a future of bad PR for the US government if scientists and engineers conclude the Chinese were accurate.  The follow-on question, then, is why the Chinese neglected to inform the US that its balloon was on the way?  There are grounds for suspicion, which opens a door to propaganda. Still, the US jumped too soon and that is an error.