Military: Pentagon sights Chinese spy balloon over US

The US military has spotted a Chinese spy balloon over northern US. The Pentagon announced on Thursday that the balloon was spotted over the state of Montana in the north-west of the United States. The trajectory of the balloon is followed closely. It is still over the United States, it said.

Shooting him down was considered, but decided against because of the danger of falling debris. After the discovery of the balloon, the government took immediate action to prevent the disclosure of sensitive information, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said.

China’s government says it is following the reports and warns against hasty speculation. “We collect and check the facts,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told the press in Beijing. “We hope that both sides will treat the matter with a cool head.” It is not helpful to speculate or hype the matter until it is clear what happened.

According to the Wall Street Journal, 150 Minuteman III ICBMs equipped with nuclear warheads are stored at a US Air Force base in northern Montana. Such sensitive locations are usually shielded, the newspaper reported, citing a senior defense official. The balloon’s spy systems still provide “limited value” compared to information that China can gather with low-Earth satellites.

One is sure that the balloon comes from China, it said from the Pentagon. Similar incidents have happened in the past. The difference this time is that the balloon stays longer than usual over the United States. The balloon poses no military threat or danger to people on the ground, Ryder said. The balloon is also said to be safe for airplanes due to its high flight altitude. The US is in contact with China about the incident.

Conflict over Taiwan continues

According to China, the United States should stay out of the conflict over Taiwan. Responding to warnings from CIA Director William Burns not to underestimate Xi Jinping’s determination to deploy the military, State Department spokeswoman Mao Ning said Taiwan was solely an “internal China affair”. Nor can it be compared to the conflict over Ukraine.

According to US media reports, the CIA director also said the US knew that Xi Jinping had instructed his military to be ready for an invasion of the island’s democratic republic by 2027. That doesn’t mean he decided to make a conquest that year, but reminds me how serious he is about it, Burns said. China’s president is also drawing lessons from the Ukraine war.

China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman accused the government in Taipei of being responsible for the tensions. Also, some people in the US used the Taiwan issue to contain China. The US should fulfill its commitments not to support Taiwan independence.