>

If it wasn't espionage, why not let the US know what happened?
Which is why I still doubt it was intentional.
Feels far more likely to be a case where control was lost and they drifted far further than intended. Majority of people seem to be thinking otherwise though, which just doesn’t make much sense. >

Why wouldn't the Chinese  come clean then and admit there was a problem? There were able to control its altitude, so they had some communication with the drone. They could have landed it or cooperated to bring it down safely. They'd get it back, too, if it really was a scientific instrument. >

Losing control doesn’t mean it wasn’t an espionage balloon.
The evidence for them being able to control its altitude is sketchy at best.