The Pentagon denounced the presence of an alleged china spy balloon about him United States airspace for a couple of days. The complaint comes at a time of high tension in the relations of the powers. Xi Jinping’s government asked “not to exaggerate” the matter and claimed to be “carrying out a verification” in this regard.
At the request of President Joe Biden, the Department of Defense of the United States examined the possibility of shooting down the devicebut made the decision not to do so because of the potential risks to people on the ground, a Pentagon official said.
“Clearly, the intention of this balloon is surveillanceand the current flight path takes it to a number of sensitive sites,” the US official said.
The Pentagon does not believe this device poses much of a threat because “has limited additive value from the perspective of intelligence (data) collection“. “We are taking measures to protect ourselves from the collection of confidential information by foreign intelligence,” the official said nonetheless.
According to the United States, the globe entered US airspace “several days ago”although the American intelligence services tracked it from before.
Several fighter planes examined the balloon as it flew over Montana, in the north of the country. It currently flies “at an altitude well above commercial air traffic” and “poses no military or physical threat to people on the ground,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement.
China has flown surveillance balloons over the United States in the past.
Tension between the United States and China
The supposed presence of the balloon in the United States came at a delicate moment. Tensions with China are high on many issues: from Taiwan, which the Chinese government considers part of its territory and whose control it intends to regain control of one day, if necessary by force.
Likewise, the South China Sea, human rights in the western region of Xinjiang and the crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong, as well as China’s tacit support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its refusal to control the program of North Korea’s expanding ballistic missiles and the ongoing disputes over trade and technology.
Against this backdrop, the incident comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was supposed to make his first trip to Beijing, scheduled for this weekend, to try to find common ground.
Although the trip has not been formally announced, both Beijing and Washington have been talking about its imminent arrival. This is a significant journey meant to follow up on Biden.
Beijing’s reaction
China said it is verifying US information about the balloon and urged “not to exaggerate” the matter.
“Verification is in progress”a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, told reporters, adding that “until the facts are clear, guessing and exaggerating the issue will not help to resolve it properly”.
Speaking to reporters, Mao said politicians and the public should refrain from judging “before we have a clear understanding of the facts” about the spy balloon reports.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also said she had no information on whether Blinken’s trip to Beijing, planned for next week, would go ahead as scheduled.