Washington: The Pentagon reported on Friday that a Chinese spy balloon had been spotted over Latin America, a day after a similar craft had been spotted in US airspace, forcing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a rare trip to Beijing.
The first balloon, according to the Pentagon, is currently travelling east over the centre of the United States and is not being shot down for safety reasons.
Later on Friday, a balloon was reported to be passing through Latin America, according to Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder. He continued, "We now assess it to be another Chinese surveillance balloon," without mentioning where it was located specifically.
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Moments before Blinken made his decision to postpone his trip, which was intended to reduce tensions between the two nations, China apologised for the first balloon and attributed the incident to winds. However, the administration of President Joe Biden referred to it as a movable "surveillance balloon."
Blinken postponed a two-day visit that was scheduled to begin on Sunday because the opposition Republican Party was already on the attack. Blinken claimed that he "made clear that the presence of this surveillance balloon in US airspace is a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law, that it's an irresponsible act" in a phone call with senior Chinese official Wang Yi.
However, according to Blinken, he informed Wang that "the United States is committed to diplomatic engagement with China and that I plan to visit Beijing when circumstances permit." "Getting the surveillance asset out of our airspace is the first step. We are concentrating on that, Blinken told reporters.
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Wang reportedly claimed that the two talked about the incident "in a calm and professional manner," according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. According to Wang, who was quoted by Xinhua as saying to Blinken, "China is a responsible country and has always strictly abided by international law." He urged both sides to "avoid misjudgments and manage divergence," saying, "We do not accept any groundless speculation and hype."
Blinken would have been the highest-ranking US diplomat to travel to China since October 2018, heralding a thaw in relations after years of tense tension under the previous administration of Donald Trump. Blinken declared last month that he would use the journey to help set up "guardrails" to keep the relationship from degenerating into a full-blown conflict.
The balloon incident was quickly exploited by Republican lawmakers, who painted Biden as weak for having largely upheld and occasionally expanded Trump's hawkish policies toward China.
President Biden needs to stop pandering to and placating the communists in China. Sen. Tom Cotton, a well-known hardliner who had pleaded with Blinken to cancel his trip, tweeted: "Bring the balloon down now and exploit its tech package, which could be an intelligence bonanza.
Donald Trump continued on his Truth Social social media platform, "Shoot down the balloon!" Beijing eventually acknowledged ownership of the "airship" and claimed the wind was to blame for its detour. The airship originates in China. It is a civilian airship used for research, primarily meteorological research, according to the statement made by a spokesperson for the foreign ministry.
It used the legal term for an event beyond human control, "force majeure," to describe the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace. The Chinese side will keep in touch with the US side and manage this unexpected circumstance appropriately. Biden had requested military options, according to a US defence official, but the Pentagon refused because it thought shooting the object down would endanger those on the ground from falling debris.
According to the defence official, who spoke to the media under the condition of anonymity, the balloon has "limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective." It is also widely believed that the United States spies on China, albeit typically using more sophisticated equipment than balloons. There are delicate ecosystems in the northwest of the US.
Following a separate troop agreement with another regional ally, Japan, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was in the Philippines this week, agreed to increase the US military presence there. The US military's actions demonstrate that, in spite of diplomatic efforts, the US is preparing for a potential conflict over Taiwan, the self-governing democracy China claims as its own.
On the fringes of a summit in Bali, Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a surprisingly cordial meeting in November during which they decided to send Blinken to Beijing. A recent order from a US military officer instructed his men to prepare for war with China.
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Recently, a US military officer ordered his troops to prepare for war with China. "I hope I am mistaken. General Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, stated in a memo that "my gut tells me we will fight in 2025," adding that the 2024 US elections would also "offer Xi a distracted America."