Joe Biden wants to “talk to the president [chinois] Xi “Jinping about the balloon shot down by American forces off North Carolina, but assured Thursday that he did not want a “cold war” with Beijing.
The President of the United States spoke to Americans for the first time on Thursday about a series of recent incidents: the downing on February 4 of a Chinese balloon – which was carrying out a spy mission, according to Washington – and those, on February 10, 11 and 12 of “objects” for the time being unidentified.
“We don’t want a new Cold War” and “will continue to talk with China,” the US president said in a brief speech. “I hope I can speak with President Xi and get to the bottom of this matter, but I make no apologies for bringing down this balloon. »
This decision to destroy the aircraft, which Beijing describes as a weather research balloon that involuntarily drifted into American airspace, sends “a clear message”: “Any violation of our sovereignty is inadmissible”, judged Joe Biden. “If an object [volant] poses a threat to the safety of Americans, I will take him down,” the 80-year-old Democrat said.
However, he admitted, as did other American officials, that “nothing for the moment” showed that the three “objects” recently destroyed were “related to the Chinese spy balloon program or that they were surveillance devices. from another country “. “These three objects are probably linked to private companies, leisure activities or scientific research institutions,” said the American president.
Increased attention
“We don’t have evidence that there has been a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky” of the United States, he said, “but we are seeing them more”, due in part to a change in speed camera settings.
The president claims to have asked his government to draw up a “better inventory” of these objects, and indicates that he has established a dialogue with his allies on the espionage program that China would lead.
Joe Biden ordered the last three destruction operations in the name of air transport security, which the White House said could have been compromised by these “objects” flying at altitudes close to those of airliners.
In the case of the Chinese balloon, the Republican opposition had criticized him for having waited too long before having it shot down.
The remains of these flying “objects” will be analyzed to determine with certainty their nature, their use or their origin, but the recovery operations promise to be uncertain given that they were shot down over frozen waters or in remote areas, said John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council of the American executive, on Tuesday.