China admitted on Friday that the hot air balloon that flew over the United States high up belongs to him, after asking before no "speculate" after the accusations launched from the Pentagon.
"The airship is from China. It is a civil airship used for research purposes, mainly meteorological", clarified in a statement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Asian giant. According to the statement, the aircraft "deviated far from its intended course" because of "westerly winds and limited self-steering ability". The Foreign Ministry in its publication "sorry for the unintended entry" of the airship in US airspace and claims that "will continue to communicate" with the US, in addition to ensuring that it will deal with "this unexpected situation caused by force majeure". Earlier this Friday, Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning declared at a press conference that Beijing was "verifying the information that a spy balloon has been flying over the United States"although he emphasized at the time that "China has no intention of violating the territory or airspace of any sovereign state.". Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement that the US continues to "close up" the movements of the globe.
"Once the balloon was detected, the US Government acted immediately to protect itself against the collection of sensitive information" by China, said Ryder, who pointed out that it is not the first time that the authorities have detected a device of this type in recent years. The announcement comes before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken begins a two-day visit to China on Sunday, the first trip by a US foreign minister to the Asian country since 2018. Defense affirmed that after the detection of the balloon they have been in contact with Chinese officials through various channels, such as the respective Chinese and US embassies in Washington and Beijing.