US officials have said that a Chinese spy balloon has been flying over the US for two days, a few days before US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken’s scheduled visit to Beijing.
According to the report of the Reuters news agency, fighter jets were mobilized, but military leaders advised US President Joe Biden not to target the balloon because the debris could pose a security threat, and Joe Biden accepted this advice. done
The US intercepted the balloon after it entered US airspace and was spotted by US military aircraft.
In addition, Canada’s defense ministry said a ‘high-altitude surveillance’ balloon had been spotted and, without giving further details, said it was in constant contact with the US.
The news initially emerged when CIA Director William Burns was speaking at an event at Georgetown University in Washington, where he described China as the ‘biggest geopolitical challenge’ facing the US.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters that “the US government has detected a high-altitude surveillance balloon and it is currently over the continental United States.”
They said the balloon was currently flying well above commercial air traffic and posed no military or physical threat to people on the ground.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said Beijing was “verifying” the situation.
She further said that I would like to emphasize that until the facts are clear, speculations and talk will not be helpful for proper resolution of this issue.
US officials said they have raised the matter with their Chinese counterparts through diplomatic channels and we have taken the matter seriously.
A U.S. official said the balloon’s additional intelligence-gathering capacity is estimated to be limited.
It should be noted that Anthony Blanken will visit China next week for the planned visit of Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November.
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2024-09-03 09:35:15
