Washington: A suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the US military off the coast of Carolina on Saturday after flying over important military bases in North America. China claimed that there was an accident involving a civilian aircraft during the flyover and threatened consequences.
Although he wanted the balloon to be brought down even earlier, President Joe Biden issued the order on Wednesday. According to US officials, they were told that the operation would be most effective when it was carried out above water.
Military officials concluded that bringing it down to the ground from an altitude of 60,000 feet would put people in unnecessary danger.
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The United States was criticized for "apparent overreaction" and "serious violations of international practice", to which China retaliated that it reserved the right to "take further action".
The legal rights and interests of the company concerned will be firmly upheld by China, according to a statement issued by the country's foreign ministry on Sunday. However, China also reserved the right to take additional remedial measures.
The appearance of the balloon this week in the skies over the US dealt a serious blow to already strained and deteriorating US-Chinese relations that have been on a downward spiral for years. This led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly postpone a key trip to Beijing aimed at reducing tensions.
After getting off Air Force One and making his way to Camp David, Biden said, "I want to applaud our aviators who did it. They took it down successfully."
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The giant white object was spotted Saturday morning as it headed toward the Atlantic coast over the Carolinas. Senior defense officials reported that the balloon was punctured by a missile fired by an F-22 fighter jet at 2:39 EST while it was about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Americans were infatuated with the spectacle all week, wondering if the mysterious balloon had passed over them. Ashlyn Prokes, 33, stared at her neighbors in Forestbrook, South Carolina, when she went outside to collect her mail on Saturday. Right there, was the balloon.
The balloon entered the US air defense zone north of the Aleutian Islands on 28 January. It then traveled over land mainly through Alaska before entering Canadian airspace over the Northwest Territories on January 31. US defense and military officials said this on Saturday.
On Tuesday, the day the White House claimed Biden received his initial briefing, he returned to US territory in northern Idaho. Malmstrom Air Force Base, which houses an area of nuclear missile silos, is located in Montana, where the balloon was seen on Thursday.
According to two senior defense officials, the Americans were able to gather intelligence on the balloon as it passed over the country, which took them several days to examine it and figure out how it moved and what it was spying on. Could The officials briefed the press on condition of anonymity.
According to officials, the US military was continually evaluating the threat and came to the conclusion that the balloon technology did not provide the Chinese with any additional useful intelligence beyond what could already be gathered from satellites, although the US did not use it. Took steps for Minimize what information he can collect on the move.
Biden's response drew criticism from Republicans.
As the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a senator from Mississippi, Roger Wicker, said, "Allowing a spy balloon from the Communist Party of China to travel across the continental United States before combating its presence shows vulnerability." Have a disastrous launch. The White House."
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, tweeted, "Now that this shameful episode is over, we need answers from the Biden administration on the decision-making process." For days Communist China was free to trample on American sovereignty. For the CCP's upcoming provocations and intrusions, we had better be prepared.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, expressed his gratitude to the US military personnel who successfully completed the mission to shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon. The Biden administration did the right thing by taking it down.
According to China, the balloon was simply a weather research "airship" that went out of control. The Pentagon categorically rejected this, as well as China's claims that it was only used for limited navigation and was not being used for surveillance.
On Saturday, the Chinese government attempted to downplay the cancellation of Blinken's visit. China's foreign ministry issued a statement saying, "In fact, the US and China have never announced any visit, any such announcement by the US is their own business, and we respect that.
Reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America were also confirmed by the Pentagon. According to a statement from Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, "we now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon."
The balloons, according to officials, are a part of a fleet used by China for surveillance and are controlled remotely by tiny motors and propellers. According to one official, they have equipment in the pod beneath the balloon that is not typically used for commercial or standard meteorological research.
A query regarding the second balloon was not immediately answered by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to one of the officials, this is not the first time that Chinese spy balloons have entered US airspace recently.
They have seen balloons cross at least three times under the Trump administration and at least once more under Biden's presidency, but never for this extended a period of time, the official claimed.
In a phone call with senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, Blinken, who had been scheduled to leave for Beijing late Friday, claimed that he had warned Wang Yi that China's decision to send the balloon over the US was "an irresponsible act" and that it would be detrimental to the substantive discussions that would follow.
The official government position that the US was exaggerating the situation was reflected in uncensored responses on the Chinese Internet. Some saw it as an opportunity to ridicule the US military, claiming that it couldn't even defend against a balloon.
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Nationalist influencers jumped at the chance to use the news to denigrate the US. China has refuted any allegations that it was spying and asserted that it was a balloon for civilian use used for meteorology research.
The US should not "smear" Pakistan because of the balloon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised, adding that it had no control over the balloon's course.
The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed airspace over the Carolina coast, including the airports in Wilmington, North Carolina, Myrtle Beach, and Charleston, South Carolina, in order to prepare for the operation on Saturday.
Due to the flight restrictions, the FAA rerouted air traffic away from the area and issued a delay warning. As the balloon approached the ocean, the FAA and Coast Guard worked to clear the air and water below it.
The enormous deflated balloon was seen swooping down like a ribbon toward the water after a small explosion that was captured on television.
From his home in Myrtle Beach, Bill Swanson claimed to have seen the balloon instantly deflate as fighter jets flew overhead. He claimed that the deflation was almost instantaneous.
"It appears for a split second, like a tiny moon, and then vanishes." Swanson added that as the balloon descended, a trail of smoke followed.