friendly balloons have flown around the world, over many countries, always requesting and getting permission to overfly the territory. Courtesy should have prompted the middle kingdom to abort, or inform the countries in the paths of this " run away's " long range track of their research vehicle.
Obviously, not all Chinese export comes in containers or on airfreight pallets. This is air fright.
nice try to create a precedent though, for later shooting down anything above the South China Sea ( west philippine area)
such balloons can be steered by the way, by lifting or lowering them into streams of air (jet or slower) that blow in the desired direction. Good guidance to scan Montana, Nebraska, the works.