The Chinese balloon suspected of spying on US military bases also entered Canadian territory, National Defense Minister Anita Anand said on Saturday.
“Today, the United States took decisive action to shoot down China’s high-altitude surveillance balloon that violated United States and Canadian airspace and international law,” he said. she argued in a press release.
She praised the United States’ initiative to shoot down the aircraft, saying that “officials within the national security community are leading a binational effort, and Canada is working closely with our American counterparts on the decision and fully supports the measures taken. Canada thanks the United States for their close cooperation.”
According to her, the cooperation between Canada and the United States within the organization of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) made it possible to follow the trajectory of the balloon.
Federal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed. “The US shot down China’s high-altitude surveillance balloon that violated US and Canadian airspace and international law. Canada supports this action. Together, and with @NORADCommand, we will continue to protect and defend ourselves,” he wrote on Twitter.
Thursday, Canada had summoned the Chinese ambassador to Ottawa on this subject.
Following the discovery of the balloon, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a diplomatic visit to Beijing, which had been scheduled for Sunday.
On Saturday morning, the plane the size of three buses floated above the Carolinas, heading for the coast. He had previously flown over a military base in Montana that has nuclear missile silos.
The balloon was finally shot down on Saturday by a US aircraft over US territorial waters in the Atlantic Ocean. Naval teams were tasked with recovering the debris before it sank, in order to study it.
China maintains that the balloon is merely a weather research device that has deviated from its intended course. She did not comment on the United States’ claim that there would be a second ball, this one in Latin America.