US shoots down Chinese spy balloon off South Carolina coast

A US fighter plane shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, the Pentagonwhich called the incident an “unconscionable violation” of US sovereignty.

President Joe Biden congratulated the F-22 pilots for shooting down in the airspace and over the territorial waters of USA the aerostat, which had been flying over the country for several days.

“They successfully shot it down. And I want to congratulate our airmen who did it,” the US president told reporters in Maryland.

“Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the security of the American people first and will respond effectively to the People’s Republic of China’s unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he told his office. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The balloon “was used by the people’s republic of china in an attempt to monitor strategic sites” in the United States, he added.

In videos broadcast on television networks on Saturday, the balloon appeared to fall vertically after impact. At the time it was shot down, it was at about 18 km altitude, about 11 km from the coast, according to Pentagon officials.

Suspended at three airports in the southeastern United States for reasons of “national security”, traffic resumed after the operation, announced the US civil aviation regulator (FAA).

“After careful analysis, US military commanders determined that shooting down the balloon while above the ground posed an unreasonable risk to people … due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload,” the statement said. Defense Minister.

That is why the army waited to be able to shoot it down “safely above our territorial waters, closely monitoring its path and information gathering activities.”

Beijing admitted on Friday that indeed the balloon seen over USA It was a Chinese device, but it was “a civil aircraft, used for research purposes, mainly meteorological” that due to the winds, “deviated from its trajectory”, according to a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.

Latin America

Canada spoke Friday of “a possible second incident” after Washington announced the presence of the first balloon. “Canada takes steps to ensure the safety of its airspace,” Ottawa said without elaborating.

He Pentagon said on Friday that a second Chinese “surveillance” balloon had been detected over Latin America.

“We now assess that it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” he added, without specifying its exact location.

Although the Chinese authorities expressed their “regret” for an “involuntary” intrusion, the Biden government considered it “unacceptable” and decided to cancel a visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, scheduled for Sunday and Monday.

Blinken expressed the american discontent during a call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, denouncing “an irresponsible act”, although he indicated that his visit would be rescheduled when “conditions allow it”, insisting on the need to keep “communication channels open” with Beijing.

His visit to China would have been the first by a US secretary of state since October 2018.

The top official of the Chinese Communist Party for diplomacy responded that his country acts in a “responsible” manner and “has always strictly respected international laws,” according to the official news agency. China News.

And on Saturday, China’s foreign ministry lamented in a statement that “some politicians and media in the United States used the (balloon) incident as a pretext to attack and smear China.”

nuclear missiles

According to Washington, the balloon was flying above commercial air traffic and posed “no military or physical threat to people on the ground.” But he refused to specify whether the device was moved by the wind or in a controlled manner.

It flew over the state of Montana, which is home to nuclear missile facilities.

It is not the first time that the US military has registered an intrusion of this type, but this aircraft remained longer than others in US airspace.

Blinken’s visit to China reportedly came at a time when the two superpowers are trying to prevent tensions from escalating into open conflict.

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