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Saturday, February 4, 2023
On Saturday, a Chinese “spy balloon”, identified by US Department of Defense, which was moving across the United States from Alaska down to Montana since Wednesday, February 1, has shot down by US Air Force off Carolina coast. About 2:39 p.m. EST, an F-22 fighter jet fired a missile at the balloon, puncturing it from about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, senior defense officials said.
US President Joe Biden has issued the order for shooting down the balloon but had wanted the balloon downed even earlier, when it was observed on Wednesday. According to the reports of US officials, Biden advised that the balloon must be shoot down over water for safety. “They successfully took it down and I want to congratulate our aviators who did it,” said Biden after coming out from Air Force One for visiting at Camp David.
Previously on Friday, the Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Patrick S. Ryder said that the balloon had changed course and was now floating eastward at about 60,000 feet (18,300 m) above the central United States and demonstrating a capability to maneuver. “It was traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”, he said.
In response to this action, Chinese foreign ministry stated that it reserved the right to “take further actions” and criticized the U.S. for “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.” Later, Chinese defense ministry echoed their statement.
Before the balloon took down, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his trip to China on Friday. The announcement has been made by US State department spokesperson, citing the same reason. The spokesperson said that Blinken would seek to travel to China “when conditions allow.” Blinken scheduled to depart for Beijing on Friday night, where both governments are intended to talk on reinforcement communication and easing tensions between the two countries. In a phone call with Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, Blinken said that sending the balloon over the U.S. was a “violation of our sovereignty”. “This is an unacceptable as well as an irresponsible action”, he said to Yi.
On Friday before taking down the balloon, China acknowledged that the balloon and claimed that it was their “civilian airship”, which was used mainly for meteorological research, which deviated from its planned course because of bad weather. However, the Defense Department denied their claims. They has described the balloon as an “intelligence-gathering balloon.”
The Pentagon also confirmed reports of a second balloon flying across the Latin America. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Ryder said on Saturday in a statement. Officials said the balloons belonged to China, which uses for surveillance, and they can be maneuvered remotely through small motors and propellers. China didn’t confirm the reports of another balloon.
US officials also said that this was not the first time the “spy balloon” has crossed over US airspace in recent days. Before that, at least three times the balloons were seen crossing over its airspace during Trump administration, but not for very long.