This Friday, the United States and Canada are following a Chinese surveillance balloon that was sighted above vital military facilities. China has asked for not "making things a squeeze".
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| Chinese spy balloon photo |
The Pentagon confirmed the presence of a Chinese balloon "designed for surveillance" floating above American land "at a height substantially above commercial aircraft" on Thursday. The surveillance balloon would have been seen over vital military facilities for many days in American skies. This incident rekindles tensions between Washington and Beijing, just days before the leader of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, is scheduled to visit China.
At the request of President Joe Biden, the Pentagon considered shooting down the balloon, but the decision was made not to do so due to the risks, a senior US defense official told reporters on Thursday, undercover of anonymity. “We considered that it was large enough for the debris to cause damage” if it was shot down over a populated area, indicates the same source.
The United States discussed the matter with Chinese officials. "We explained the gravity of the situation to them," added the American official. "We made it plain to them that we will go to whatever length to safeguard our people on our land."
Chinese reaction on spy balloon
China answered early Friday morning by noting that "a verification is under progress". "Making conjectures and turning things upside down before the facts are proven does not help in an appropriate settlement of the matter," said Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in front of the press. "As a responsible government, China has always scrupulously abided by international law and has no intention of breaching a sovereign state's territory and airspace," she continued.
"We have no doubt that the ball is coming from China," a US defense official said. "We are taking precautions to safeguard ourselves against the capture of sensitive information," he said, while emphasizing the gadget's "minimal additional value in terms of information collecting." The device, characterized as a rather large ball, is described as a very large ball.
The United States and Canadian Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), according to Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder, were watching the balloon's progress. The balloon reached US airspace "approximately two days ago," but US intelligence was already monitoring it, according to the source, who added that it was not the first time the US military had spotted it. This time, though, the balloon stayed in US airspace for far longer.
A second balloon would soar over Canada as well. The Canadian government has claimed it is examining "a second potential event". "Canadians are safe, and Canada is taking steps to secure its airspace," stated the Department of Defense in a statement.
Canada did not specifically mention China. "Canada's intelligence agencies continue to cooperate with their American counterparts to secure Canada's sensitive information against threats from foreign intelligence services," the ministry stated.
The episode was ridiculed by the "Global Times," a publication supported by the Chinese Communist Party but not an official entity. "The ball itself is a large target," he said on Twitter. "If balloons from other nations can approach the continental United States safely, or even penetrate the sky above certain states, it simply confirms that the United States air defense system is merely there to look nice and is not trustworthy," he joked.
The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, criticized a "destabilizing move" by a China which "shamelessly disregards the sovereignty of the United States". He urged Joe Biden not to be silent.
Antony Blinken's travel to China on Sunday and Monday is the first by a US secretary of state since October 2018, as the two giants struggle to keep their heightened tensions from spilling into outright confrontation. Among the numerous controversial problems are China's actions in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, which China claims as an important part of its territory.