Chinese spy balloon

The US military has shot down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, ...

The military’s attention next turns to recovering the balloon debris. Earlier Saturday, Biden had told reporters in Syracuse, New York, that his administration was “gonna take care” of the suspected Chinese spy balloon when asked by CNN if the US would shoot it down. China’s Foreign Ministry has said the balloon entered US airspace by accident. On Friday, the Pentagon said the balloon did not pose a military or physical threat. [President Joe Biden](https://www.cnn.com/politics/joe-biden) approved the downing of the balloon, Austin said in a statement, which a US official previously told CNN was a plan that was presented and supported by US military leaders. The FAA also restricted airspace near Myrtle Beach “to support the Defense Department in a national security effort.” They decided without doing damage to anyone on the ground,” the president said Saturday. Earlier Saturday, a senior Defense official said the Pentagon has launched “a collaborative effort” with the FBI and “counterintelligence authorities ” to assist with “categorizing and assessing the platform itself.” “We have learned technical things about this balloon and its surveillance capabilities. But the State Department has said the presence of the balloon in US airspace was “a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law, and it is unacceptable that this has occurred.” A defense official told CNN that US Northern Command was coordinating with NASA to determine the debris field if the balloon was to be shot down. Waiting to carry out the operation has allowed the US to “study and scrutinize” the balloon and its equipment, a senior Defense official said during a call with reporters following the operation but did not elaborate on when that occurred.

The US military has shot down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, ...

The balloon, spotted earlier this week over the western United States, was brought down when an F-22 fighter jet fired an air-to-air missile at it off the ...

Pentagon officials were able to gauge its projected path and made plans to shoot it down once it reached the Atlantic. By that day, the balloon was over Kansas and heading, helped in part by the jet stream, to the Eastern Seaboard. Austin III, in the Philippines at the time, called a meeting on Wednesday of senior military and defense officials to review military options, per Mr. Blinken’s trip to China was scheduled to begin in days, and the administration had decisions to make. Nicholas Burns, also told the Chinese Foreign Ministry that its government had to remove the balloon, officials said. “We acted to notify the public as quickly as possible as to the facts regarding the balloon,” said Brig. Blinken said the entry of the spy balloon was a officials conveyed to Chinese officials several times in recent days that the U.S. Earlier, a senior defense official said that had happened three times during the Trump administration and one previous time during the Biden administration. officials to their Chinese counterparts, criticism from Republican lawmakers, and on Friday, the cancellation of a visit to China by Secretary of State Antony J. The president was alerted by the Pentagon on Tuesday that a spy balloon had entered continental American airspace near Idaho, White House officials said, and asked for military options. The Chinese foreign ministry declared its “strong discontent and protest” about the United States’ downing of the balloon.

US fighter jets have shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, but the tensions linger in the world's most important bilateral relationship.

A decade into a militarized and pressurized South China Sea, after the global acceptance of the PRC’s denials and assurances that it had no military intentions or applications there, should make it painfully obvious that the United States must do much more to push back against this increased aggression, and it must draw red lines with actions and costs, not words. The United States should take action to limit the ability of China to gain sensitive information from the balloon. The United States must take appropriate, firm, and relevant moves against these brazen actions, or else it invites them to multiply. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had already [canceled a planned trip](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/world/asia/china-spy-balloon.html) to China amid concerns over the balloon. But what is likely front and center right now is the ongoing battle over who will lead in the development of advanced technology such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors. This action may suggest a shift in Chinese nuclear strategy to plan to target US nuclear weapons before they can be used, and it shows a brazen belief in Beijing that the CCP can violate US airspace without consequences. The cancellation of Blinken’s diplomatic engagement in China is appropriate but will not be enough. The scuttled trip would have been Blinken’s first to China in two years as secretary of state and [reportedly would have included](https://www.ft.com/content/663bcc8f-1d44-4131-a9e5-43aeb02a79dc) a sit-down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In fact, it gave Beijing the ability to better map US intercontinental ballistic missile silos for future targeting and to gauge the US response. Due to its self-perceived economic, diplomatic, and even military strength, the PRC continues to take steps that brazenly violate US sovereignty. - Recover and exploit the balloon for both intelligence and counterintelligence value, while also not squandering an opportunity to directly refute the PRC’s preposterous claims that this was a weather research balloon. [shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon](https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-china-antony-blinken-51e49202f2a0a50541cde059934c4cfb) over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday after it had floated across the United States.

The US president's remark comes after China called for 'calm' over the balloon flying across the US.

The last visit by a US secretary of state was in 2017. It was seen over North Carolina on Saturday morning, according to commercial forecaster AccuWeather which has been tracking it. “In actuality, the U.S. and China have never announced any visit, the U.S. China had expressed regret that an “ US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin first announced the shootdown, saying the balloon was being used by China “in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States”.

The balloon brought Americans out to squint at the sky, caused a diplomatic visit to be canceled and opened a political debate.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry says that the machine was a civilian weather balloon that had strayed far — very far — off course and entered U.S. Biden, after news of the balloon became widespread, for not taking harder action against the balloon and against China, and some demand that Mr. Austin III, in the Philippines at the time, calls a meeting of senior military and defense officials to review options, per Mr. officials convey to Chinese officials several times that the U.S. Blinken tells a Chinese diplomat in Washington in the evening that the American government has the right to take any actions to protect its interests. One Pentagon official calls the balloon a blatant, and poorly concealed, effort at spying. The balloon makes its way to the skies above Billings, Mont., which alarmed Pentagon officials because the state is home to the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, one of three U.S. The arrival — and extended stay — of the balloon over American territory prompted furious calls from senior U.S. The president asks for military options, including the immediate destruction of the aircraft. By Wednesday, the balloon was hovering over Montana, and a full-blown diplomatic crisis was underway. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, alerts President Biden. The spy balloon starts a controlled drift into American territory, entering Alaskan airspace near the Aleutian Islands.

When President Joe Biden first learned a likely Chinese spy balloon was drifting through the stratosphere 60000 feet above Montana, his first inclination ...

Austin gave his final approval for the strike shortly after noon on Saturday from the tarmac in New York, according to a defense official. Earlier in the week, the Federal Aviation Administration had been told by the Pentagon to prepare options for shutting down airspace. When options were presented to Biden on Wednesday, he directed his military leadership to shoot down the balloon as soon as they viewed it as a viable option, given concerns about risks to people and property on the ground. Republicans immediately moved to attack Biden for not shooting the balloon down immediately. I had somebody try to tell me it was the green comet, I’m like that’s way too close to be the comet.” While Beijing insisted on Friday that the balloon was simply a meteorological device that had strayed off course, the US government was confident that the balloons were being used for surveillance. The balloon caused an hours-long grounding of commercial flights around Billings on Wednesday as the military worked to respond. Realizing it couldn’t be the moon, he brought out his binoculars to take a closer look. In his Tuesday briefing with the President, Milley informed Biden the balloon appeared to be on a clear path into the continental United States, differentiating it from previous Chinese surveillance craft. Shooting it down over water also increased the chances of being able to recover the payload intact, the officials said. As Navy divers and FBI investigators sort through the tangle of equipment and technology that tumbled into the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, Biden and his team must also piece together what the episode means for the broader relationship with Beijing. “We’ve seen them and monitored them, briefed Congress on the capabilities they can bring to the table,” another US official told CNN.

Was Beijing trying to sabotage talks with the US, monitor the speed of its military response, or just test Joe Biden's mettle?

It will soon be able to approach the Chinese government in possession of the balloon’s payload and an understanding of its technology. Others said he was right to postpone, as the furore would have crowded out everything else on the very full and urgent bilateral agenda. Why send a balloon to do your spying in an age of satellites? However, it is unclear what a balloon could see in the missile silos of Montana that was not already known to the Chinese. If it was indeed a spy balloon, the whole episode raises a lot of questions about decision-making in Beijing. It was quite predictable that the balloon would be spotted, tracked and potentially shot down, and that all this would happen in the run-up to secretary of state Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing.

“US fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by and belonging to the People's ...

Biden said his administration “will take care” of the balloon. “Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the American people first while responding effectively to the PRC’s unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.” “The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above US territorial waters.”

America don shoot down one giant Chinese balloon wey dem say bin dey spy on key military sites across US.

Di object bin dey spotted for di US state of Montana, wey be home to a number of sensitive nuclear missile sites. Di official add say "capable Navy divers" fit dey deployed to assist in di operation. Defence officials also reveal on Saturday say di balloon bin first enter US airspace on 28 January near di Aleutian Islands, before moving to Canadian airspace three days later, and re-entering di US on 31 January. Two naval ships, including one with heavy crane for recovery, dey di area. US President Joe Biden bin dey under pressure to shoot di balloon down since defence officials first announce say dem dey track am it on Thursday. Inside one Pentagon statement, one senior US defence official say, "while we take all di necessary steps to protect against di PRC [China] surveillance balloon collection of sensitive information, di surveillance balloon overflight of US territory dey of intelligence value to us.

SURFSIDE BEACH — A US military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it first ...

The US relationship with China is likely to be a major theme of the 2024 presidential race. On Friday, it said another Chinese balloon was flying over Latin America. Biden’s potential rival in the 2024 election, called earlier this week for the balloon to be shot down, and has sought to portray himself as stronger than Mr. A senior administration official said after shooting down the balloon, the US government spoke directly with China about the action. The balloon entered US airspace in Alaska on Jan. Blinken’s trip, which had been agreed to in November by Mr. It then re-entered US airspace over northern Idaho on Jan. The postponement of Mr. “The US had insisted on using force, obviously overreacting.” While Saturday’s shootdown concludes the military dimension to the spying saga, Mr. Washington had called the balloon’s appearance a “clear violation” of US sovereignty and notified Beijing about the shootdown on Saturday, a US official said. 28 before moving into Canadian airspace on Jan.

The effort off the coast of South Carolina is expected to take days. Navy and Coast Guard ships have been sent to the scene.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, called it a “dereliction of duty.” She said the balloon had “violated U.S. America’s Western allies were quick to line up behind the Biden administration’s insistence that the balloon was a clumsy attempt at spying by China. He described it as “a decision that was focused on protecting human life,” but he cautioned that the incident should not have happened at all. Intelligence officials can offer briefings on China’s balloon surveillance program to “key officials” from the Trump administration, the person said. Officials in Washington and Beijing had seen the trip as part of a renewed effort to establish high-level dialogue during a period of heightened tensions. Officials from the State Department and the White House National Security Council spoke with Chinese officials about the downing of the balloon soon after it happened, a senior Biden administration official said. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. A senior administration official said on Sunday that in the end, U.S. official said on Sunday that there were ways for intelligence officials to feed false information to the balloon, which would largely render the information it gathered worthless. The recovery effort, which is expected to take days, began not long after debris from the balloon hit the water on Saturday, a defense official said. WASHINGTON — Navy divers were searching for debris from the Chinese spy balloon that a U.S.

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration lauded the Pentagon for shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the US Atlantic coast on Saturday, ...

We are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites," the senior defense official said.Another suspected Chinese spy balloon was seen over Latin America, the Pentagon said Friday, without providing details." Saturday afternoon was the military's first chance to take down the balloon "in a way that would not pose a threat to the safety of Americans," a senior defense official told reporters, while still allowing authorities to collect the fallen debris from US territorial waters.In eyewitness video posted to social media, the balloon appeared to disintegrate in a white puff before its remnants dropped vertically into the Atlantic Ocean below.Twitter user Haley Walsh posted that she "heard and felt the explosion" in Myrtle Beach, a popular resort town in South Carolina.President Joe Biden, who earlier Saturday had promised "to take care" of the balloon, congratulated the fighter pilots involved." But China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs blasted the US action in a statement Sunday, saying the downing of the "civilian" aircraft was "clearly overreacting and seriously violating international practice."

Pete Buttigieg says president 'considered safety of American people' after Marco Rubio criticizes eight-day wait.

“The message embedded to the world is: ‘We can fly a balloon over airspace of the United States of America and they won’t be able to do anything about it … We should not have let the People’s Republic of China make a mockery of our airspace … The Pentagon has acknowledged reports of a second balloon over Latin America. Blinken said he told a senior Chinese diplomat sending the balloon was “an irresponsible act … President Biden missed the opportunity to defend our sovereignty, send a message of strength and bolster deterrence.” “This puts a big dent in moving that forward in a constructive way, which we really need to do.” The balloon was spotted on Wednesday over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which has fields of nuclear missile silos. and the operation was put in place without pain, damage or injury to any Americans, lives or property”. The Chinese knew this was going to be spotted. It crossed Idaho on Tuesday, the day the White House said Biden was briefed. Marco Rubio of Florida, the Republican vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, was unmoved, telling the same network: “Why didn’t they take action? “The debris field that was created by this balloon which was shot down, it’s about seven miles long.

WASHINGTON: The Biden administration lauded the Pentagon for shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the US Atlantic coast on Saturday, ...

We are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites," the senior defense official said.Another suspected Chinese spy balloon was seen over Latin America, the Pentagon said Friday, without providing details." Saturday afternoon was the military's first chance to take down the balloon "in a way that would not pose a threat to the safety of Americans," a senior defense official told reporters, while still allowing authorities to collect the fallen debris from US territorial waters.In eyewitness video posted to social media, the balloon appeared to disintegrate in a white puff before its remnants dropped vertically into the Atlantic Ocean below.Twitter user Haley Walsh posted that she "heard and felt the explosion" in Myrtle Beach, a popular resort town in South Carolina.President Joe Biden, who earlier Saturday had promised "to take care" of the balloon, congratulated the fighter pilots involved." But China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs blasted the US action in a statement Sunday, saying the downing of the "civilian" aircraft was "clearly overreacting and seriously violating international practice."

Defence secretary Lloyd Austin said US fighter jets had on Saturday afternoon shot down the surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina in American ...

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The US military shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the US Atlantic coast on Saturday, triggering an angry response from China, which said it ...

Three balloons were spotted during Donald Trump’s presidency and another one earlier in the Biden administration. “They decided – without doing damage to anyone on the ground… The balloon had flown over parts of the northwestern United States – including the state of Montana – that are home to sensitive airbases and strategic nuclear missiles in underground silos. According to the senior defense official, the military determined the airship was not a major threat to the United States during its flight, and “the surveillance balloon’s overflight of US territory was of intelligence value to us,” he added, without providing details. Saturday afternoon was the US military’s first chance to take down the balloon “in a way that would not pose a threat to the safety of Americans,” a senior defense official told reporters, while still allowing authorities to collect the fallen debris from US territorial waters. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called the operation a “deliberate and lawful action” that came in response to China’s “unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”

China says US 'obviously overreacting' SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. — A US military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of So...

A senior administration official said after shooting down the balloon, the US government spoke directly with China about the action. On Friday, it said another Chinese balloon was flying over Latin America. “The US had insisted on using force, obviously overreacting.” Once it crossed over US land, it did not return to open waters, making a shoot-down difficult. The balloon entered US airspace in Alaska on Jan. It then re-entered US airspace over northern Idaho on Jan.

Biden administration takes credit for the safe takedown of the Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic, while Republicans say it should have been done a week ...

The U.S. The airship first entered the U.S. The discovery of the spy balloon comes at a sensitive time for China. U.S. China’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the U.S. he wants to tell the world that China is open for business again. China said the balloon was gathering meteorological data and driven off course by wind currents, sending it over the United States, which the U.S. “Why let it fly across the middle of the country over military bases? Pete Buttigieg, President Joe Biden’s transportation chief, told CNN’s “State of the Union” show that China’s deployment of the balloon was “an unacceptable intrusion on American sovereignty.” But he said the U.S. military, on Biden’s order last Wednesday, shot it down Saturday “without any damage to people or property…after assessment of the risks” of doing it over the U.S. A political partisan divide quickly emerged Sunday over the U.S. The debris from the missile strike on the balloon, which had been drifting at an altitude of more than 18,000 meters (11 miles), landed about 10 kilometers (6 miles) off the shoreline of the southern U.S.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said President Biden authorized the operation to shoot down the balloon.

NASA was also brought it to determine what the debris field may look like when the balloon was shot down, the Biden officials said. Biden directed the military to present options for how to shoot down the balloon immediately. The senior defense official also said that the U.S. The senior defense official told CBS News that the balloon was about six nautical miles off the coast of South Carolina when it was shot down. The military Wednesday then presented options to Mr. Senior Biden administration officials told CBS News that, after the balloon was shot down, the U.S government spoke directly with the Chinese government about the action. Flights resumed shortly after the balloon was taken down. Those Biden officials said the balloon was first detected over Alaska on Jan. airspace on Tuesday, the Biden officials disclosed. Biden told reporters that "we're gonna take care of" the balloon. The balloon was shot down by U.S. After the operation, Mr.

The downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was met by lawmakers with a mix of praise, criticism and concern.

Patrick Ryder said the balloon didn't pose a physical or military threat, and once it was detected, the U.S. protects American lives while responding "effectively" to the violation of U.S. And so we took additional precautions to make sure that whatever additive intel value would be minimized," the official said. Tim Scott, R-S.C., [called it](https://twitter.com/SenatorTimScott/status/1621973003943743493) a "dereliction of Biden's duty." Senior administration officials told ABC News that shooting down the balloon safely sends the message that the U.S. military for "putting the safety of the American people first." "The surveillance balloon's overflight of U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on Saturday that he ordered the Pentagon to shoot the balloon down "as soon as possible" on Wednesday. -- and that the situation called for a more forceful response. The Pentagon has confirmed the high-altitude balloon was being used for surveillance, disputing China's claim that it was a civilian aircraft used for meteorological purposes. The balloon was shot down by a U.S. military was met by lawmakers with a mix of praise for the safe and