Chinese balloon seen over U.S. was for weather research, Beijing says

A balloon suspected by the US of conducting surveillance over the northwestern United States was a civilian “airship” used for weather research and was shot down, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

A statement from the ministry said the balloon, which was seen in the US recently, had limited “self-steering” ability and “deviated far from the planned path” due to winds.

He said China regretted the inadvertent entry of the aircraft into US airspace. Earlier, the ministry said that China “has no intention of violating the territory and airspace of a sovereign country.”

“China is a responsible country and always abides by international law, and China has no intention of violating any country’s sovereign territory and airspace,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said.

Blinken postpones China visit

News that a Chinese spy balloon could fly over US airspace comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to make his first trip to Beijing this weekend. However, a senior State Department official on Friday said Blinken would postpone the visit.

The official said the US had concluded the current situation was not right for Blinken to travel to Beijing and that another trip would be arranged “at the earliest opportunity.”

Blinken does not want the balloon controversy to dominate meetings with Chinese officials, US media reported.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning earlier on Friday said she had no information about the trip. Mao also urged the two countries to handle the situation involving the balloon “calmly and cautiously.”

Blinken was due to be the top member of US President Joe Biden’s administration to visit China, with a mission to ease the deterioration in relations between the two countries amid trade disputes and concerns about Beijing’s aggressive stance towards Taiwan and in South China. sea.

WATCH | The reaction to the Chinese balloon is high over the US:

On Thursday, a senior American defense official told Pentagon reporters that the US has “very high confidence” that the object found in US airspace was a Chinese high-altitude balloon flying over sensitive sites to gather information.

One of the places where the balloons were found was Montana, which is home to one of the three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

The defense official said the U.S. has determined that the balloons have “limited” value in providing intelligence that other technologies, such as spy satellites, cannot.

Pentagon press secretary Brig. General Patrick Ryder said there that balloon activity has been seen in the past few years and the government has taken steps to ensure no sensitive information is stolen.

Travel east

He said the balloon traveled higher than commercial planes fly and posed no threat to people on the ground.

On Friday, Ryder told reporters in Arlington, Va., that the balloon was moving east at an altitude of 60,000 feet (18,200 meters) above the center of the country,

“I won’t be able to go to a certain location,” Ryder said.

A Pentagon spokesman said he did not want to renew the cycle “hour by hour”, and that the balloon would be in the United States for a few more days.

“Again, we know it’s a Chinese balloon. Beyond that, I won’t have specifics,” he said when asked who could be controlling its movement.

A senior defense official said Thursday that the US had prepared fighter jets, including F-22s, to shoot down the balloons if ordered. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised against taking “kinetic action” because of the risk to the safety of people on the ground.

Biden accepted the recommendation. Even if the balloon was in a sparsely populated area of ​​Montana, its size would have created a large enough debris field to pose a risk.

Defense officials did not specify the size of the balloon, but said commercial pilots could see it from their cockpits.

Canada summoned the ambassador

China’s ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu was summoned by Global Affairs Canada officials on Thursday amid the controversy, according to department spokeswoman Charlotte MacLeod.

“We will continue to express our position to Chinese officials through multiple channels,” MacLeod said in a statement on Friday.

Canada’s Department of National Defense said the balloon’s movements were being actively tracked by the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), which is responsible for monitoring air threats to the continent.

Officials have not said whether the surveillance balloon flew in Canadian airspace, and Defense Minister Anita Anand’s office declined to comment.

However, the Department of Defense said in a statement that Canadian intelligence agencies are cooperating with their American counterparts.

The balloon over the continental US was first reported by NBC News. A photo of a large white balloon over the area was captured by The Billings Gazette. It can be seen drifting in and out of the clouds and has what appears to be a solar array hanging from below, Gazette photographer Larry Mayer said.

The balloon’s appearance has raised national security concerns among American lawmakers about China’s influence in the US, ranging from the prevalence of the wildly popular TikTok smartphone app to the purchase of American farmland.

“China’s brazen violation of US sovereignty is a destabilizing act that must be addressed,” Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted.