From Beijing they admitted that the balloon was of Chinese origin, but they affirmed that it was a weather device deviated from its trajectory and accused the White House of overreacting and unnecessary use of armed force.
After this first incident Three other objects were shot down in the United Statesbut for the moment the US government failed to identify its provenance, something unprecedented in years.
There is “no indication” that the flying objects are Chinese
In the midst of this controversy, the White House assured today that there are no indications that the three flying objects shot down on Friday over Alaska, on Saturday over the Yukon in northwestern Canada, and on Sunday over northern Lake Huron “were Chinese or spies.”
The US authorities so far “They have not seen any indication or anything that specifically points to the idea that these three objects were part of China’s spy balloon program. or were involved in external intelligence gathering efforts,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters.
“Could be balloons that they were simply linked to commercial or research entities and therefore, harmless“Added the official, who on the other hand insisted that China is carrying out a “deliberate and well-financed program” with balloons to spy on the US and other countries.
A report issued by the US Department of Defense and sent to lawmakers detailed that the object shot down in Canadian airspace on Saturday appeared to be a “small metallic balloon with a payload strapped underneath,” CNN reported.
However, Kirby claimed that they have not yet found the remains of the artifacts and that “it could take a while” before they are recovered, after evoking “quite harsh” climatic and geographical conditions.
Faced with speculation from Congress, the media, and public opinion, which ranged from a coordinated Chinese espionage offensive to the arrival of extraterrestrials, the official wanted to downplay the unusual number of unidentified flying objects detected in recent weeks and pointed out that It is probably due to the recalibration that the Government made of its defense radar systems after the discovery of the Chinese “spy balloon”..
“Because of the spy balloon, we have changed some of the radar parameters for our air defense, particularly over the northern part of our atmosphere. And it is possible that partly due to the adjustment of the sensitivity of the radars, we are simply seeing more objects at the moment“, he sentenced.
Chinese accusations against Washington
China returned yesterday to accuse Washington of having sent about 10 flying devices to its territory since last year: “The United States should conduct a very thorough investigation and give an explanation to China“, assured the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin.
These accusations were denied by Kirby: “That’s not true! We don’t do that!” he told MSNBC.
The detection of the Chinese globe led to the abrupt cancellation of a trip to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which would have been the first visit by a head of US diplomacy since October 2018.
Source: Ambito
