A second Chinese balloon has been spotted over Latin America, the Pentagon announced on Friday, a new twist in a case that has cast a chill between Washington and Beijing, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken having postponed a visit to China.
The day before, the United States had announced the presence of a first Chinese spy balloon in their airspace.
Although the Chinese authorities had to express their “regrets” for this “involuntary” intrusion according to them, Washington deemed the affront “unacceptable” and decided in extremis on Friday to cancel the trip of the American Secretary of State which was planned for Sunday. and Monday.
Mr. Blinken told his counterpart Wang Yi, denouncing “an irresponsible act and a clear violation of the sovereignty of the United States which undermines the purpose of the trip”.
“The priority now is to get this spy device out of our airspace,” he told a news conference.
Later in the day, the Pentagon spokesman announced the presence of “another Chinese spy balloon”, this time flying over Latin America, without specifying its exact location.
Rescheduled
Antony Blinken tried to calm things down by assuring that his visit would be rescheduled when “conditions allow it”, insisting on the need to keep “the lines of communication open” with Beijing.
Antony Blinken’s visit to China would have been the first by a US secretary of state since October 2018.
“Imagine for a moment what the reaction would have been in China” if they were concerned, he noted.
The Pentagon assured Thursday that it had no doubts about its Chinese origin and its use for espionage purposes.
Beijing, which had initially called not to “raise the pin” on this affair, admitted on Friday that it was indeed a device from China.
But “it is a civilian aircraft, used for research purposes, mainly meteorological”, assured a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.
Affected by the winds, this balloon “deviated from its trajectory”, he added, expressing his country’s “regrets” for this “involuntary” violation of American airspace.
nuclear missiles
“I can tell you that the balloon is heading east and is currently over the center of the United States” at some 18,000 meters and is expected to remain in US territory for “a few more days. Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said Friday during a press briefing.
He reiterated that the balloon, “manoeuvrable”, sailed above commercial air traffic and posed “no military or physical threat to people on the ground”.
The spokesperson, however, refused to explicitly detail whether the movements of the machine were remote-controlled.
According to US media, the balloon flew over the Aleutian Islands in the northern Pacific Ocean, then passed through Canadian airspace, before entering the United States about two days ago.
He notably flew over the state of Montana (west), which is home to nuclear missile silos, where fighter jets approached him, a senior Pentagon official said Thursday on condition of anonymity.
It was decided not to shoot it down, due to the risks posed by possible debris for people on the ground, he added, while judging its ability to collect information “limited”.
“Down That Ball”
“Canada is taking steps to ensure the security of its airspace,” the Department of Defense said in a statement on Friday.
This is not the first time that the US military has seen such an intrusion, but this aircraft has remained longer than others in US airspace.
The incident sparked strong reactions within the political class in the United States.
The Republican and Democratic leaders of a parliamentary committee on China, Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi, have thus denounced a “violation of American sovereignty”.
“Down that balloon!” ex-Republican President Donald Trump urged on Truth Social.
Many elected Conservatives have declared themselves of the same opinion, some going so far as to put themselves on the stage, firearms pointed skyward.