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U.S. and
Chinese
flags
are seen
through
broken
glass in
this
illustration
taken,
January
30,
2023.
REUTERS/Dado
Ruvic/Illustration |
|
US downs
Chinese
balloon,
a
flashpoint
in
US-China
tensions
By ZEKE
MILLER,
MICHAEL
BALSAMO,
COLLEEN
LONG,
AAMER
MADHANI
and
LOLITA
C.
BALDOR
apnews.com
WASHINGTON
- The
U.S.
military
on
Saturday
shot
down a
suspected
Chinese
spy
balloon
off the
Carolina
coast
after it
traversed
sensitive
military
sites
across
North
America.
China
insisted
the
flyover
was an
accident
involving
a
civilian
aircraft
and
threatened
repercussions.
President
Joe
Biden
issued
the
order
but had
wanted
the
balloon
downed
even
earlier,
on
Wednesday.
He was
advised
that the
best
time for
the
operation
would be
when it
was over
water,
U.S.
officials
said.
Military
officials
determined
that
bringing
it down
over
land
from an
altitude
of
60,000
feet
would
pose an
undue
risk to
people
on the
ground.
China
responded
that it
reserved
the
right to
“take
further
actions”
and
criticized
the U.S.
for “an
obvious
overreaction
and a
serious
violation
of
international
practice.”
In its
statement
Sunday,
China’s
Ministry
of
Foreign
Affairs
said
that
“China
will
resolutely
uphold
the
relevant
company’s
legitimate
rights
and
interests,
and at
the same
time
reserving
the
right to
take
further
actions
in
response.”
China’s
Ministry
of
Defense
echoed
the
statement
later in
the day,
saying
it
“reserves
the
right to
take
necessary
measures
to deal
with
similar
situations.”
The
presence
of the
balloon
in the
skies
above
the U.S.
this
week
dealt a
severe
blow to
already
strained
U.S.-Chinese
relations
that
have
been in
a
downward
spiral
for
years.
It
prompted
Secretary
of State
Antony
Blinken
to
abruptly
cancel a
high-stakes
Beijing
trip
aimed at
easing
tensions.
“They
successfully
took it
down and
I want
to
compliment
our
aviators
who did
it,”
Biden
said
after
getting
off Air
Force
One en
route to
Camp
David.
The
giant
white
orb was
spotted
Saturday
morning
over the
Carolinas
as it
approached
the
Atlantic
coast.
About
2:39
p.m.
EST, an
F-22
fighter
jet
fired a
missile
at the
balloon,
puncturing
it while
it was
about 6
nautical
miles
off the
coast
near
Myrtle
Beach,
South
Carolina,
senior
defense
officials
said.
The
spectacle
had
Americans
looking
to the
skies
all
week,
wondering
whether
the
mysterious
balloon
had
floated
over
them.
On
Saturday,
Ashlyn
Preaux,
33, went
out to
get her
mail in
Forestbrook,
South
Carolina,
and
noticed
her
neighbors
looking
up — and
there it
was, the
balloon
in the
cloudless
blue
sky.
Then she
saw
fighter
jets
circling
and the
balloon
get hit.
“I did
not
anticipate
waking
up to be
in a
‘Top
Gun’
movie
today,”
she
said.
The
debris
landed
in 47
feet of
water,
shallower
than
officials
had
expected,
and it
spread
out over
roughly
seven
miles
and the
recovery
operation
included
several
ships.
The
officials
estimated
the
recovery
efforts
would be
completed
in a
short
time,
not
weeks. A
salvage
vessel
was en
route.
U.S.
defense
and
military
officials
said
Saturday
that the
balloon
entered
the U.S.
air
defense
zone
north of
the
Aleutian
Islands
on Jan.
28 and
moved
largely
over
land
across
Alaska
and then
into
Canadian
airspace
in the
Northwest
Territories
on
Monday.
It
crossed
back
into
U.S.
territory
over
northern
Idaho on
Tuesday,
the day
the
White
House
said
Biden
was
first
briefed
on it.
The
balloon
was
spotted
Wednesday
over
Montana,
home to
Malmstrom
Air
Force
Base,
which
has
fields
of
nuclear
missile
silos.
The
Americans
were
able to
collect
intelligence
on the
balloon
as it
flew
over the
U.S.,
giving
them a
number
of days
to
analyze
it and
learn
how it
moved
and what
it was
capable
of
surveilling,
according
to two
senior
defense
officials
said.
The
officials
briefed
reporters
on
condition
of
anonymity.
The
officials
said the
U.S.
military
was
constantly
assessing
the
threat,
and
concluded
that the
technology
on the
balloon
didn’t
give the
Chinese
significant
intelligence
beyond
what it
could
already
obtain
from
satellites,
though
the U.S.
took
steps to
mitigate
what
information
it could
gather
as it
moved
along.
Republicans
were
critical
of
Biden’s
response.
“Allowing
a spy
balloon
from the
Communist
Party of
China to
travel
across
the
entire
continental
United
States
before
contesting
its
presence
is a
disastrous
projection
of
weakness
by the
White
House,”
said
Mississippi
Sen.
Roger
Wicker,
the top
Republican
on the
Senate
Armed
Services
Committee.
Sen.
Thom
Tillis,
R-N.C.,
tweeted:
“Now
that
this
embarrassing
episode
is over,
we need
answers
from the
Biden
Administration
on the
decision-making
process.
Communist
China
was
allowed
to
violate
American
sovereignty
unimpeded
for
days. We
must be
better
prepared
for
future
provocations
and
incursions
by the
CCP.”
Sen.
Lindsey
Graham,
R-S.C.,
was more
positive:
“Thank
you to
the men
and
women of
the
United
States
military
who were
responsible
for
completing
the
mission
to shoot
down the
Chinese
surveillance
balloon.
The
Biden
Administration
did the
right
thing in
bringing
it
down.”
China
has
claimed
that the
balloon
was
merely a
weather
research
“airship”
that had
been
blown
off
course.
The
Pentagon
rejected
that out
of hand
— as
well as
China’s
contention
that it
was not
being
used for
surveillance
and had
only
limited
navigational
ability.
The
Chinese
government
on
Saturday
sought
to play
down the
cancellation
of
Blinken’s
trip.
“In
actuality,
the U.S.
and
China
have
never
announced
any
visit,
the U.S.
making
any such
announcement
is their
own
business,
and we
respect
that,”
China’s
Ministry
of
Foreign
Affairs
said in
a
statement.
The
Pentagon
also
acknowledged
reports
of a
second
balloon
flying
over
Latin
America.
“We now
assess
it is
another
Chinese
surveillance
balloon,”
Brig.
Gen. Pat
Ryder,
Pentagon
press
secretary,
said in
a
statement.
Officials
said the
balloons
are part
of a
fleet
that
China
uses for
surveillance,
and they
can be
maneuvered
remotely
through
small
motors
and
propellers.
One
official
said
they
carry
equipment
in the
pod
under
the
balloon
that is
not
usually
associated
with
standard
meteorological
activities
or
civilian
research.
China’s
Ministry
of
Foreign
Affairs
did not
immediately
respond
to a
question
about
the
second
balloon.
This
isn’t
the
first
time
Chinese
spy
balloons
have
crossed
into
U.S.
airspace
in
recent
years,
one of
the
officials
said. At
least
three
times
during
the
Trump
administration
and at
least
one
other
time
during
Biden’s
time as
president
they’ve
seen
balloons
cross,
but not
for this
long,
the
official
said.
Blinken,
who had
been due
to
depart
Washington
for
Beijing
late
Friday,
said he
had told
senior
Chinese
diplomat
Wang Yi
in a
phone
call
that
sending
the
balloon
over the
U.S. was
“an
irresponsible
act and
that
(China’s)
decision
to take
this
action
on the
eve of
my visit
is
detrimental
to the
substantive
discussions
that we
were
prepared
to
have.”
Uncensored
reactions
on the
Chinese
internet
mirrored
the
official
government
stance
that the
U.S. was
hyping
the
situation.
Some
used it
as a
chance
to poke
fun at
U.S.
defenses,
saying
it
couldn’t
even
defend
against
a
balloon,
and
nationalist
influencers
leaped
to use
the news
to mock
the U.S.
China
has
denied
any
claims
of
spying
and said
it is a
civilian-use
balloon
intended
for
meteorology
research.
The
Ministry
of
Foreign
Affairs
emphasized
that the
balloon’s
journey
was out
of its
control
and
urged
the U.S.
not to
“smear”
it
because
of the
balloon.
In
preparation
for the
operation
Saturday,
the
Federal
Aviation
Administration
temporarily
closed
airspace
over the
Carolina
coast,
including
the
airports
in
Myrtle
Beach
and
Charleston,
South
Carolina,
and
Wilmington,
North
Carolina.
The FAA
rerouted
air
traffic
from the
area and
warned
of
delays
as a
result
of the
flight
restrictions.
The FAA
and
Coast
Guard
worked
to clear
the
airspace
and
water
below
the
balloon
as it
reached
the
ocean.
Television
footage
showed a
small
explosion,
followed
by the
giant
deflated
balloon
descending
like a
ribbon
toward
the
water.
Bill
Swanson
said he
watched
the
balloon
deflate
instantly
from his
house in
Myrtle
Beach as
fighter
jets
circled
around.
“When it
deflated
it was
pretty
close to
instantaneous,”
he said.
“One
second
it’s
there
like a
tiny
moon and
the next
second
it’s
gone.”
Swanson
added
that a
trail of
smoke
followed
the
balloon
as it
dropped.
___
Associated
Press
writers
Chris
Megerian
in
Hagerstown,
Md.;
Tara
Copp and
Mary
Clare
Jalonick
in
Washington;
Meg
Kinnard
in
Columbia,
S.C.;
Kimberlee
Kruesi
in
Nashville,
Tenn.;
Huizhong
Wu in
Taipei;
and
researcher
Henry
Hou in
Beijing
contributed
to this
report.
___
An
earlier
version
of this
report
incorrectly
said the
balloon
was
spotted
over
Montana
on
Thursday,
instead
of
Wednesday.
.
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