The American army shot down on Saturday, on the orders of President Joe Biden, the Chinese balloon which had been flying over the United States for several days, causing great tension between Washington and Beijing.
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The fighter jet operation took place “over water off the coast of South Carolina, in US airspace,” the US Secretary of Defense said in a statement. Lloyd Austin.
He stressed that it was carried out in response to an “unacceptable violation” of American “sovereignty”. The Pentagon claims it was a spy balloon.
Mr Biden congratulated the pilots who carried out this delicate operation “successfully”. He said he had given the order on Wednesday to shoot down the balloon “as soon as possible”, but that the Pentagon wanted to wait for “the safest place to do so” in order to avoid any damage to the ground when the balloon fell. any debris.
On videos broadcast by television channels on Saturday, the ball appeared to fall vertically after an impact.
Shortly before, air traffic had been suspended at three airports in the southeastern United States as a “national security” measure, announced the American civil aviation regulator (FAA). It was one airport in North Carolina and two in South Carolina.
“After careful analysis, U.S. military commanders determined that shooting down the balloon while it was above the ground posed an undue risk to people (…), given the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance cargo”, declared the Minister of Defence.
This is why the army waited to be able to shoot it down “safely above our territorial waters, while closely monitoring its route and its information-gathering activities”, he added.
On Saturday morning, US President Joe Biden had declared that the United States would “deal” with this balloon.
Then at the start of the afternoon, Mr. Biden, to whom journalists asked if he was going to give the order to shoot him, had responded by raising his thumb.
This affair, which has cast a chill over relations between Washington and Beijing, has caused the postponement of a visit by the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken to China.
“Analyze Technology”
On Thursday, the Americans had learned of the existence of this balloon over Montana in the northwestern United States, which is home to nuclear missile silos. He then gradually moved towards the east of the country.
Beijing acknowledged that it was indeed a device from China, but assured that it was a “civilian aircraft, used for research purposes, mainly meteorological”.
The machine would have “deviated from its trajectory”, added a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressing the “regrets” of his country for this “involuntary” violation of American airspace.
“I salute President Biden’s leadership for shooting the Chinese balloon over water to keep all Americans safe,” Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted on Saturday. “Now we can collect the equipment and analyze the technology used” by China, he added.
On Friday, the Pentagon said a second Chinese balloon had been spotted over Latin America.