Trump denies Chinese ‘spy’ balloons flew over US soil during his tenure

The former president considers that if he governed, Chinese interference “would not have happened” because Beijing has “great respect” for him

6 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Former United States President Donald Trump denied this Sunday that several Chinese surveillance balloons had flown over US territory during his tenure, as several Biden Administration officials had pointed out in recent days.

“China had too much respect for ‘Trump’ for this to happen, and it never happened. These are just false claims,” ​​Trump said through a message on his profile on his own social network, Truth Social.

“The Chinese would never have flown a blimp (balloon) over the United States if I were president,” Trump added, adding that he would have consulted with Chinese authorities whether a negotiation was possible before shooting it down.

In addition to Trump, several former intelligence officials have refuted that there had been such flights during the tenure of the former leader of the country. “I don’t know of any balloon flights by any power over the United States during my tenure, and I had never heard of such a thing before I joined in 2018,” former Trump national security adviser John Bolton said.

These statements have been made after several Biden officials maintained that this situation had occurred several times in previous years, specifying that at least three of the flights had occurred during the Trump term and a fourth at the beginning of the current Administration, ” even though never during this period of time.”

In fact, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said last Thursday that the Chinese balloon did not pose “a military or physical threat,” while noting that “instances of this type of balloon activity have been previously observed in recent years.” years,” according to a Defense Department statement.

The balloon was sighted for the first time last Tuesday over Montana and crossed the country to the east coast, reaching the Atlantic this Saturday, where it was finally shot down. Senior Pentagon officials had warned of the risk of bringing down the device on the ground due to the danger that the debris would cause damage.

After that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has expressed its “firm discontent” for what it believes is a “clear overreaction” by the United States after the shooting down of the alleged spy balloon and has reserved the right to give the “answers necessary”.