Operation underway to recover debris from downed balloon
U.S./China tensions balloon as U.S. shoots down spy balloon over Atlantic Ocean. “This afternoon, at the direction of President Biden, U.S. fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by and belonging to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over the water off the coast of South Carolina in U.S. airspace,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. The latest:
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his planned trip to China after the Pentagon detected a Chinese balloon flying over Montana. Blinken was due to land in China on Sunday, and was expected to meet with President Xi Jinping, but the U.S. declared the balloon as an “unacceptable” violation of national territory. Blinken said the aircraft was a Chinese surveillance balloon operating as “a clear violation of our sovereignty, a clear violation of international law, and clearly unacceptable.”
- “I can only imagine what the reaction would be in China if they were on the other end,” Blinken said, adding that “job one” now was to remove the aircraft from U.S. airspace.
- China denied that the object was a spy balloon, and said that American politicians were using the incident to “smear China.” China said it was a “civilian airship” used mainly for meteorological research. It expressed regret about the balloon’s “unintended” entry into American airspace.
- A second Chinese spy balloon was flying over Latin America, U.S. officials said on Friday.
- About the balloon: It’s huge, reportedly the size of three buses and equipped with surveillance machinery and other equipment that would potentially create a large debris field if shot down, officials said. It was probably collecting data as it passed over sensitive U.S. military installations, U.S. officials said. Blinken said officials took steps immediately upon detection of the airship to block collection of sensitive information. While U.S. officials initially said the balloon did not seem to be piloted, it now appears Chinese authorities are directing its flight path.
- Some Republicans found fault with the administration for “allowing” the balloon to enter U.S. airspace — it apparently traveled from China, across the Pacific Ocean, into Alaska and over Canada before reaching mainland U.S. — and said it should have been shot down upon detection. Former South Carolina Gov. and likely GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Saturday tweeted it should be captured to “see what they are collecting and hold Xi accountable.”
- The suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down Saturday, after President Biden gave the go-ahead to take it down when it floated over the Atlantic Ocean east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, following calls from lawmakers to act urgently on the mysterious balloon. The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday closed parts of North Carolina and South Carolina airspace for what it said for “national security” reasons and halted flights to three airports in South Carolina until 3:30 p.m. EST. Under international law, U.S. territory extends 12 nautical miles from its coast. Striking the balloon will enable the Biden administration to say it was defending U.S. airspace. U.S. Navy ships were in the Atlantic Ocean area where the shootdown occurred and will likely lead to recovery efforts.
- White House knew about the balloon days before informing the public. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the president was briefed about the balloon Tuesday, but she did not explain why the public did not learn of it until Thursday. When a Montana newspaper published a picture of it last Wednesday, the White House changed course. The State Department said Blinken and Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman spoke with China’s senior Washington-based official on Wednesday evening about the matter.
- Even if the balloon is not armed, it poses a risk to the U.S., said retired Army Gen. John Ferrari, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. The flight itself, he said, can be used to test America’s ability to detect incoming threats and to find holes in the country’s air defense warning system. It may also allow the Chinese to sense electromagnetic emissions that higher-altitude satellites cannot detect, such as low-power radio frequencies that could help them understand how different U.S. weapons systems communicate. He said the Chinese may have sent the balloon “to show us that they can do it, and maybe next time it could have a weapon. So now we have to spend money and time on it” developing defenses. Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, suggested it could be valuable to try to capture the balloon to study it. “I would much rather own a Chinese surveillance balloon than be cleaning one up over a 100-square-mile debris field,” said Himes (D-Conn.).