“We do not want a new Cold War” and “we will continue to talk to China,” he declared yesterday in a short speech. “I look forward to speaking with President Xi and getting to the bottom of this but I do not apologize for having brought down the balloon,” he added.
Beijing claims it was a weather research device that inadvertently entered US airspace.
The decision to destroy it sends “a clear message,” according to Biden. “Any violation of our sovereignty is inadmissible,” he said. “If any object poses a threat to the safety of Americans, I will take it down,” insisted the 80-year-old Democratic president.
As for the other three recently destroyed objects, Biden acknowledged, like other US officials, that “nothing at the moment” showed that they were “related to China’s spy balloon program” or “surveillance devices from another country.” ”.
“These three objects are probably linked to private companies, leisure activities or scientific research institutions,” he said.
“We don’t have evidence that there has been a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky,” he said, “but we do see more of them” due in part to a change in radar settings, he said.
The president says he has spoken with allies about the spy program he says China is running and has called for a “better inventory” of flying objects in the sky.
The last three shoot-down operations were carried out in the name of air transport safety, since these “objects” were flying at altitudes close to those of aircraft.
In the case of the Chinese balloon, the Republican opposition criticized it for having waited too long before giving the order.
The remains of these flying “objects” will be analyzed to determine their nature, use and origin, but it is difficult to recover them because they fell on icy waters or in remote areas, John Kirby, a spokesman for the US government’s National Security Council, said Tuesday.
The issue has poisoned diplomatic relations between the United States and China, which accuse each other of espionage.
Source: Ambito
