Why would China use a spy balloon when it has satellites?

To see how we will react, just like the 9/11 hijackers took commercial flights while carrying box cutters in the months leading up to the date of the attack to verify that they could get through security repeatedly with the devices before they used them as planned. As for what a balloon can do that a satellite cannot... how about making a controlled descent once it gets into a designated geofence? Beyond that... it's up to anyone's imagination.

China has claimed ownership btw: https://archive.ph/DJgKa

> China has said the balloon, spotted over the state of Montana, is merely a "civilian airship" which deviated from its planned route, but the US suspects it is a "high-altitude surveillance" device.

Some 10 years ago NORAD claimed that they can detect a screwdriver in space. (Discovery Channel documentary).

Nowadays they are not able to detect a huge balloon flying from China to the east of US.

Pathetic.

because it's not a spy balloon, it's a dry run of a delivery platform for an EMP nuke