UNITED STATES: A suspected Chinese “spy” balloon was seen in US airspace, and the Pentagon opted against shooting it down because it would endanger civilians on the ground. The floating “spy” balloon has strained US-China relations even more.
The Pentagon is extremely convinced that the Chinese balloon was flying over “critical installations” to gather information, a senior defence official told reporters.
According to the sources, the balloon was observed in Montana, which is home to one of the country’s three nuclear missile launch sites at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
The government is tracking a balloon that is “currently travelling at an altitude significantly above commercial air traffic and does not offer a military or physical threat to anyone on the ground.”
Similar balloons have been seen in the past, according to the Pentagon, which stated in a news briefing that the US had taken precautions to guarantee they did not collect important information.
The “spy” balloon fiasco occurred at the same time that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was planning to visit Beijing for the first time this weekend in an effort to forge some understanding.
Beijing and Washington have been discussing his impending presence despite the trip not having been officially publicised. It was unclear at first if Blinken’s vacation plans would change as a result of the balloon’s finding.
The Pentagon advised against shooting down the balloon because of its size, which would have created a large enough debris field to endanger people in Montana. Nevertheless, the US did prepare fighter jets, including F-22s, to do so.
It was unclear what steps the military was taking to stop it from gathering vital information or what would happen to the balloon if it wasn’t shot down.
Although the official would not give an exact measurement, it claimed that the balloon was large enough for commercial pilots to view despite its great height.
Photographs of the “huge white circle in the sky” were taken by some Montanas. However, the Pentagon refused to clarify whether the sizable white balloon that was still hovering above the area was the surveillance balloon.
A citizen of Montana told sources, “I thought maybe it was a real UFO.”
The steady stream of worrying developments for our national security, according to Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, “from the spy balloon to the Chinese Communist Party spying on Americans through TikTok to the CCP-linked firms buying American farmland,” disturb him deeply.
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