The Pentagon said on Thursday it was tracking the movements of a Chinese spy balloon flying at high altitude over US territory and sensitive military sites, saying it posed no direct threat.
At the request of President Joe Biden, the Pentagon considered shooting it down but the decision was made not to because of the risk posed by the debris to those on the ground, a senior official told reporters. US defense official, on condition of anonymity.
“We have no doubt that the ball is from China,” he said.
“We are taking steps to protect ourselves against the collection of sensitive information,” he said, while insisting on “the limited added value in terms of information collection” of the device described as a balloon with fairly large dimensions.
“We considered that it was large enough for the debris to cause damage” if it had been shot down in a populated area, according to the same source.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said the United States and Canada Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), based in Colorado (west), was monitoring the path of the balloon.
“The balloon is currently flying at an altitude well above commercial air traffic. It poses no military or physical threat to people on the ground,” he said in a statement.
“Gravity”
“Clearly, this balloon is intended for surveillance and its current trajectory takes it over sensitive sites” including air bases and strategic missile silos, said the first American official, referring to the state of Montana, in the western United States.
The balloon entered US airspace “several days ago” but US intelligence was already monitoring it, the same source said, adding that it was not the first time that the US military saw such an intrusion.
But this time the balloon stayed in United States airspace much longer.
Made aware, the American president immediately asked his Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who was in the Philippines on Wednesday, to provide him with options. The latter then held discussions with the chiefs of staff of the Pentagon.
Fighter jets approached the craft over Montana, according to the same source.
The incident comes a few days before a trip by the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken to China to try to ease tensions with the Asian giant.
Among the many contentious issues are Taiwan, which China claims as an integral part of its territory, and China’s activities in Southeast Asia.
In the Philippines, Lloyd Austin has signed agreements aimed at strengthening the American military presence there in the face of the rise of China.
Washington raised the balloon incident with Chinese authorities.
“We communicated to them the seriousness of the incident,” the US official said, adding that “we made it clear to them that we will do whatever is necessary to protect our people in our territory.”