The Chinese ‘spy balloon’ continues to fly over the United States and would be in the center of the country. Despite China asserting that the space object is for meteorological purposes and that it did not intend to invade US airspace, Antony Blinken asserted that it is a surveillance object and denounced “an irresponsible act” and “violation” of his ” sovereignty”, reasons for which he canceled his visit to the Asian country.
A sighting that recalls the early days of the Cold War. The Pentagon said Friday that the Chinese “spy balloon” is still flying over the United States and is moving in an easterly direction. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced the invasion of his airspace at a press conference with his South Korean counterpart Park Jin this Friday, February 3.
“It is a clear violation of American sovereignty and international law. It is an irresponsible act,” he said, adding that “we are sure it is a Chinese surveillance balloon.”
“The PRC’s decision to take this step on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions we were prepared to have,” Blinken explained.
The trip had been agreed to in November by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was highly anticipated and was seen as an opportunity to strengthen an increasingly fragile relationship between the two superpowers. The last visit by a US secretary of state to China was in 2017.
Blinken explained that although Washington “remains committed to its diplomatic relationship with China,” the invasion of its airspace meant that “conditions were not conducive to a constructive visit to China.”
The balloon will continue to fly over the US for a few days
The Pentagon spokesman, General Pat Ryder, specified in a press conference that the balloon is now heading east.
“The balloon has changed its trajectory,” Ryder said, and “it is likely” that it will fly over the country for a “few days,” he said.
The general explained that the security services acted “immediately” to prevent him from collecting “sensitive” information.
“Once the balloon was detected, the (US) government took immediate action to protect itself against the collection of sensitive information” by China, Ryder said, adding that this is not the first time authorities have detected a this type in recent years.
Since it does not represent a threat to the security of the United States, Washington decided not to destroy the device because it did not create a hazard from falling debris. However, according to the general, the North American Aerospace Defense Command is following his movements “closely.”
“Military commanders have assessed that there is no physical or military threat to the people on the surface,” Pat Ryder said, adding that they will continue to monitor their movements.
“The balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not pose a military or physical threat to people on the ground,” Ryder said. The balloon would have “limited additive value from an intelligence-gathering perspective,” added another White House official.
For his part, Senator Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said that although the presence of the alarm device is not surprising: “The level of espionage directed at our country by Beijing has become dramatically more intense and shameless in the last five years”, criticized the legislator.
Specifically, the device was detected over Montana –a state in the north of the US territory and which is home to three nuclear missile silo fields–, at the Malmstrom Air Force Base. The size of this balloon is equivalent to the length of three buses, as estimated by defense expert John Parachini.
China claims the balloon crossed into the US due to “force majeure”
Amid US accusations, Beijing offered his first clarification this February 3through the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
He confirmed that, indeed, “the airship is from China”, but it would be “an airship used for research purposes, mainly meteorological”: “Affected by westerly winds and with limited self-steering capacity, the aircraft deviated greatly from its intended course. The Chinese side regrets the unintentional entry due to force majeure into US airspace.”
Initially, China announced that it was investigating the facts and asked not to make any speculation about it. In her daily briefing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning stressed that politicians and the public should refrain from judging “before we have a clear understanding (…) speculation and hype are not going to help to properly solve this matter. (China) has no intention of violating the territory and airspace of any sovereign country.”
Prior to the pronouncement of the Xi Jinping government, the state media minimized what happened and some tabloids even described the information coming from the United States as “lies”.
“If other countries’ balloons really could safely enter the continental United States, or even enter the skies of certain states, this only proves that the United States’ air defense system is completely decoration and cannot be trusted.” “, reported the newspaper ‘Global Times’ in its English version.
“To spy on the United States with a balloon, one must both be backward in the use of 1940s technology, and advanced enough to control its flight across the ocean. Those who fabricate the lie only expose their ignorance.” , published the ‘China Daily’.
Canada says it has detected a “potential second incident”
Following the information released by the Pentagon, Canada’s Department of National Defense announced that it had also detected “a high-altitude surveillance balloon.”
Since Montana shares a border with Canada, and US officials said the balloon had traveled over part of the neighboring country on its way to their state, it could be the same balloon.
However, Justin Trudeau’s government also said it was watching for a “potential second incident.”
Although they did not provide further details, the Canadian authorities affirmed that there is no public danger. For now, the Canadian Ministry of Defense confirms that it is in frequent contact with the United States authorities to discuss the situation, as the Chinese side would be doing.
“Canada’s intelligence agencies are working with US partners and continue to take all necessary steps to safeguard Canada’s confidential information from foreign intelligence threats,” it revealed.
‘Spy balloons’, a Cold War tool but in current use
The use of that type of spherical body as a spy tool dates back to the Cold War. But since then, hundreds of them have continued to be used to monitor adversary governments, experts say.
Additionally, in 2019, the US Army used up to 25 experimental solar-powered high-altitude balloons to conduct wide-area surveillance tests over six Midwestern states.
Although they may seem like discontinued tools, military experts say the use of high-altitude balloons as a surveillance method could increase because they are difficult to detect by radar, as well as difficult to shoot down, sometimes staying airborne for days after landing. have been perforated.
In this line, these devices are cheaper than spy satellites.
These devices can “steer” their operations by changing altitudes, using computers to calculate how to use winds blowing in different directions and in different layers of the atmosphere. And as if that were not enough, they even have the ability to carry bombs in times of war.
Concerns around this alleged ‘spy balloon’ are registered in the midst of strong tensions between the United States and China and, in fact, have led the first state to cancel its visit to Beijing, where the arrival of the Secretary of State was expected. American, Antony Blinken.
According to the Reuters agency, which relies on outlets such as ‘ABC News’ and ‘Bloomberg News’, Blinken does not want any balloon to dominate his conversations with Chinese officials.
And it is that Washington and Beijing raised their friction again on Thursday, February 2, after the US and the Philippines confirmed the increase in the US military presence on the island, including access to four more bases.
Under the agreement, the United States will have additional access to Philippine military facilities for joint training, storage of equipment and supplies, and construction of facilities, though not to establish a permanent presence.
Even so, the expansion of US-Philippine cooperation, which seeks to deter Beijing’s increasingly aggressive moves towards Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea, were strongly rejected by China.
With Reuters, AP, EFE and local media
