An American fighter shot down on Saturday a Chinese “spy” balloon off the coast of South Carolina, a maneuver that Beijing described as “clearly disproportionate“.
President Joe Biden He congratulated the F-22 pilots for shooting down in the airspace and over the territorial waters of state Joined the aerostat, which had been flying over the country for several days, reported the agency AFP.
“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. time the Secretary of Defense, lloyd austin.
the balloon was used by the People’s Republic of China in an attempt to police strategic sitesof the United States, he added.
Video: this is how they shot down the Chinese “spy” balloon
China later claimed to have asked Washington “to appropriately handle the situation in a calm, professional and moderate manner.”
However, according to a note from the Foreign Ministry, the United States “insisted on the use of forcetowards an “unmanned civil aircraft”, which the Asian giant described as a reaction “clearly disproportionate“.
“China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the affected companies and reserve the right to provide further responses if necessary,” it 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.
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Suspended at three airports in the southeastern United States for reasons of “national security”, traffic resumed after the operation, the US civil aviation regulator (FAA) announced.
“After careful analysis, US military commanders determined that knocking over the balloon when it was above the ground posed an unreasonable risk to peopledue to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload,” the defense minister said.
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.”
China claimed the “spy” balloon was used for “meteorological” purposes
Beijing admitted on Friday that indeed the balloon seen over state Joined it was a Chinese device, but that 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 Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A possible second balloon in Latin America?
Without giving details, Canada spoke Friday of “a possible second incident“after Washington announced the presence of the first balloon.
The Pentagon said Friday that a Second Chinese “surveillance” balloon had been detected over Latin America. “We now assess that it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” she added, without specifying its exact location.
Although the Chinese authorities expressed their “regret” for an “involuntary” intrusion, the Biden government thought it “unacceptable” and withdrew. Cancel a visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinkenscheduled for Sunday and Monday.
Blinken expressed American discontent during a call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, denouncing “a irresponsible act“, although he said that his visit would be rescheduled when “conditions allow it”, insisting on the need to keep “communication channels open” with Beijing.
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Blinken’s canceled visit to China
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. Porcelain News.
And on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Porcelain regretted in a statement that “some politicians and media in state Joined used the (balloon) incident as a pretext to attack and defame Porcelain“.
The balloon flew over nuclear missile facilities
According to Washington, the balloon was flying above commercial air traffic and posed “no military or physical threat to people on land“. But he refused to detail if the apparatus advances moved by the wind or in a controlled way.
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 recorded an intrusion of this type, but this aircraft lasted longer than others in US airspace.
Blinken’s visit to China will come at a time when the two superpowers are trying to prevent tensions from escalating into open conflict.
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