The US military has shot down a Chinese spy balloon flying over North America for a week and is moving to recover the debris to gather more information about the surveillance plane.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said a fighter jet on Saturday afternoon shot down a surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina in American airspace and territorial waters.
Austin said President Joe Biden on Wednesday authorized the launch of the balloon “as soon as the mission can be accomplished without undue risk to American lives”.
A senior military official said the F-22 fired an air-to-air missile at the balloon at 2.39pm when it was six nautical miles off the east coast.
He added that the US military has begun the process of trying to recover the debris, which is spread over seven miles of sea.
The Pentagon on Wednesday announced the presence of the balloon as it flew over a sensitive military installation in Montana where the US bases several nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles.
A senior defense official said the ship entered US airspace on January 28 near the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. It flew into Canadian airspace two days later and re-entered US airspace over Idaho on January 31.
Officials said the US would learn more about the balloon in the coming days, but defense officials said the Pentagon had concluded it had “broad capabilities”.
The debris landed in a 47-foot-deep area of the ocean, which one official said will make it easier to recover the debris than expected.
In a statement, Austin said his “lawful actions” show that Biden and his national security team will “always put the safety and security of the American people first while responding effectively to unacceptable violations of our sovereignty”.
Speculation arose that the U.S. would intercept the balloon when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the closure of U.S. airspace around Charleston and Myrtle Beach between 12:45 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.
Biden is under pressure from Republicans to get off the ship, which is roughly the size of several buses. The Pentagon gave the president the option to do so earlier this week while at a military base that houses US nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. But Biden decided against that option because of the risks to civilians on the ground.
Some lawmakers questioned why the president allowed the balloons to continue flying over the US, giving China more opportunities to monitor American military installations.
“Admin[istration] must take care of this before it becomes a national security threat, “Michael McCaul, the Republican head of the House foreign affairs committee wrote on Twitter. “I hope we can recover the wreckage to help determine what intelligence the Chinese Communist party collected when it spied on our country for several days.”
Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate armed services committee, described the delay in destroying the balloons as “a dangerous projection of weakness by the White House”.
Earlier on Saturday, the Pentagon said a second Chinese spy balloon had been detected over Latin America but did not elaborate.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday canceled a visit to China over the discovery of the balloon. He is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping. He will be the first cabinet secretary of the Biden administration to visit China.
Speaking after canceling the trip on Friday, Blinken said the balloon was an “irresponsible act” and a “violation of US sovereignty” and international law. He added that China’s actions “on the eve of a planned visit will undermine the substantive discussions that have been prepared”.
China has expressed regret over the incident but rejected suggestions that the balloon was spying. China’s foreign ministry said the “civilian airship used for research, especially meteorological, purposes” deviated from its planned course due to wind and “self-steering capability”.
Pentagon spokesman General Patrick Ryder on Friday rejected China’s explanation. “We know it’s a surveillance balloon.”
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