Chinese spy balloon

Several days of intrigue as the mysterious white aircraft flew over US airspace were brought to an abrupt end when President Joe Biden ordered it be shot ...

[to abruptly cancel a trip to Beijing](https://news.sky.com/video/china-spy-balloon-us-secretary-of-state-antony-blinken-cancels-planned-trip-to-china-12802654), which would likely have taken huge amounts of diplomatic effort on both sides to organise. It is part of the Chinese play book to simply deny. [was shot out of the sky](http://news.sky.com/story/us-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-china-calls-it-obvious-overreaction-12803499) [ off the South Carolina coast on Saturday](http://news.sky.com/story/us-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-china-calls-it-obvious-overreaction-12803499) after days of intrigue, while diplomatic relations soured further between Washington and Beijing. [At a meeting on the sidelines of a G20 summit last year](http://news.sky.com/story/biden-xi-meeting-with-taiwan-north-korea-and-hong-kong-dividing-them-what-did-china-want-from-talks-with-the-us-at-the-g20-in-bali-12747487), China's President [Xi Jinping](https://news.sky.com/topic/xi-jinping-6332) had acknowledged the competition between the countries must not descend into conflict. The problem is that just as the US will have felt pressure to shoot, the Chinese may feel pressure to take some form of retaliatory action, especially if it sticks to the line that this was a civilian craft. [Alaska](https://news.sky.com/topic/alaska-5714), and through [Canada](https://news.sky.com/topic/canada-6330) before entering the US. [US](https://news.sky.com/us) President [Joe Biden](https://news.sky.com/topic/joe-biden-7848) ordered the object be brought down, with a defence official saying it was a spy balloon that [China](https://news.sky.com/topic/china-5869) intended to use on sensitive military sites. The operation to down the balloon caught the attention of people on the ground. If the Chinese response initially had been relatively apologetic, speaking of "regret" that what it described as a weather balloon had "accidentally" ended up in US airspace, their tone now is significantly angrier. [Montana](https://news.sky.com/topic/montana-5738), on Wednesday - [close to a nuclear missile silo field at Malmstrom Air Force Base](https://news.sky.com/story/chinese-spy-balloon-flying-over-us-airspace-says-pentagon-12801851). [South Carolina](https://news.sky.com/topic/south-carolina-5752), near Myrtle Beach, with ships deployed in the water to mount the recovery operation. China has threatened "further actions" in response to America's "serious overreaction" in the downing of a suspected spy balloon.

The F-22 Raptor fighter that flew from Virginia to South Carolina on Saturday and downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon with a missile strike brought high ...

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The U.S. on Saturday shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon, an action met with 'strong dissatisfaction' and vows of 'necessary responses' in...

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The U.S. Air Force finally shot down the Chinese 'spy balloon' using its fifth-gen fighter jet, F-22 Raptor, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin confirmed.

[report](https://apnews.com/article/268893fddde785d029d5a51b136951eb) by the Associated Press, a research balloon measured the amount of ozone in Canada. However, unlike the 1998 incident, the US F-22 Raptors were scrambled from Nellis Air Force Base but did not attempt to shoot it down. This was the first kill for the F-22 Raptor. “With something like this, which is stationary in the air when the CF-18s are flying very, very fast, it is difficult to shoot it,” Wills said. Since the balloon went rogue, over 1,000 rounds were fired at it by two Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CF-18 fighter planes after they spotted it over Newfoundland. It’s not the Hindenburg, you can’t just shoot it and then and then it goes up in flames,” referring to the airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937. This incident has reminded the world of another “balloon incident” that rocked the global north more than two decades ago. However, they decided not to shoot it down earlier for fear of debris falling on the people on the ground. However, specialists believe that shooting the balloon was not feasible. While the U.S. Air Force finally shot down the Chinese ‘spy balloon’ using its fifth-gen fighter jet, F-22 Raptor, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. The U.S.

China has expressed its "strong dissatisfaction and protest" against the United States' decision to shoot down its high-altitude balloon, accusing it of ...

Pentagon officials earlier this week said the balloon posed no “military or physical” threat. “Both balloons also carry surveillance equipment not usually associated with standard meteorological activities or civilian research,” the official said. “China clearly asked the US to handle it properly in a calm, professional and restrained manner. “This was a PRC (People’s Republic of China) surveillance balloon. Zhuang Guotai was the head of China Meteorological Administration until Friday, but his departure from that post was not unexpected. It excuses a party from liability if an unforeseen event, such as a natural catastrophe, prevents it from performing its obligations under the contract.

After floating over the US for days, a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon has been shot down. But aftershocks from the saga continue to reverberate.

Intelligence gathering has been conducted using balloons since the 19th century, and their usefulness has significantly declined. During.

The US asked the Taliban government to hand over Osama to the government of Saudi Arabia, but Mullah Omar Mujahid said that handing over Osama Bin Al-Aden to Saudi Arabia means handing over to America. In addition, this operation is commonly known as JSOC, because the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is a sub-command of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), which played an important role in the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden on May 2, 2011. But there is some confidential information that Osama bin Laden, the American dictator and the founder of al-Qaeda, was recruited by the CIA in 1979 at the beginning of the US-sponsored jihadist war against Afghanistan, And he was 22 years old and trained in a CIA-sponsored guerrilla training camp. One of the most serious consequences of India’s backing for the TTP is the worsening of terrorism in Pakistan. For a state to exist, compete and survive in the international context, a country must be well equipped. Nisar & StepovayaIn (2022) has cited (UNODC, 2021) which states that in September in Malaysia, a web-hosting service was the target of a ransomware attack demanding US$ 900,000 in cryptocurrency and In May, four subsidiaries of an international insurance company in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines were hit by a ransomware attack asking for US$ 20 million. The ultimate purpose of this assistance is to weaken Pakistan’s military and political institutions, making it easier for India to achieve a regional advantage. The political and security vacuum left by the TTP’s operations can then be utilized by India to further its own goals and acquire more influence in the area. According to a statement released by the Chinese government, the balloon was a civilian airship that was used for meteorological research and it was malfunctioned due to wind. Again, bloodshed in the city of flowers, with more than 90 martyrs and at least 250 injured in a suicide attack by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in Peshawar. Not being able to retrieve the data collected by a balloon is a waste of money and time. Some of the measures the U.S.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned trip to Beijing due to the incident, while Republicans hammered President Biden for initially failing to ...

Steve Daines, R-Mont.,](https://www.foxnews.com/media/chinese-spy-balloon-tremendous-embarrassment-shows-biden-weakness-montana-senator?intcmp=tw_fnc) argued that the incident was "one more example" of a move by Biden that had made the U.S. "The CCP spy balloon is the story of the Biden presidency. Meanwhile, it led to concerns that the hasty withdrawal had emboldened China in the months after the evacuation, with increased incursions into Taiwan and the Pentagon finding that the withdrawal was a [propaganda gift](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-fumbled-afghanistan-withdrawal-propaganda-gift-china-defense-department-finds) to the Chinese regime. [withdrawal from Afghanistan](https://www.foxnews.com/category/world/conflicts/afghanistan) in 2021, which resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe amid a scramble to get out of the country and evacuate U.S. Their lack of response, the show of weakness...is provoking our adversaries and making America weaker," he said. [$7 billion of military equipment](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-abandoned-military-equipment-cost-afghanistan-taliban-takeover) as it rushed to exit. It was not the only foreign policy incident to strain relations. "Waiting this long to take action projects weakness and is too little, too late." "From the Southern border to Afghanistan and, now, Chinese surveillance directly above our homes and sensitive military installations, this President shows he is not interested in protecting American interests." The chaotic final days included a suicide bomb attack at Kabul Airport -- where Afghans were crowded to try and catch a ride out of the country -- which killed 13 U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said allowing the balloon to cross the U.S. On Saturday afternoon, as the balloon tracked over Myrtle Beach, S.C., it was finally deflated by an F-22 pilot.

SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C., Feb 4 (Reuters) - A US military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, ...

sovereignty and notified Beijing about the shootdown on Saturday, a U.S. Washington had called the balloon’s appearance a “clear violation” of U.S. “The U.S. relationship so it can focus on its economy, battered by the now-abandoned zero-COVID policy and neglected by foreign investors alarmed by what they see as a return of state intervention in the market. A senior administration official said after shooting down the balloon, the U.S. government ordered a halt to flights in and out of three airports in South Carolina — Wilmington, Myrtle Beach and Charleston — due to what it said at the time was an undisclosed “national security effort.” Flights resumed on Saturday afternoon. The State Department also briefed allies and partners around the world, the official said. coast of the Atlantic Ocean, over relatively shallow water, potentially aiding efforts to recover elements of the Chinese surveillance equipment over the coming days, U.S. “China had clearly asked the U.S. The balloon was shot down about six nautical miles off the U.S. China strongly condemned the military strike on an airship that it says was used for meteorological and other scientific purposes, and which it said had strayed into U.S. SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C., Feb 4 (Reuters) - A US military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it first entered U.S.

The effort off the coast of South Carolina is expected to take days. Navy and Coast Guard ships have been sent to the scene.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, called it a “dereliction of duty.” She said the balloon had “violated U.S. America’s Western allies were quick to line up behind the Biden administration’s insistence that the balloon was a clumsy attempt at spying by China. He described it as “a decision that was focused on protecting human life,” but he cautioned that the incident should not have happened at all. Intelligence officials can offer briefings on China’s balloon surveillance program to “key officials” from the Trump administration, the person said. Officials in Washington and Beijing had seen the trip as part of a renewed effort to establish high-level dialogue during a period of heightened tensions. Officials from the State Department and the White House National Security Council spoke with Chinese officials about the downing of the balloon soon after it happened, a senior Biden administration official said. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. A senior administration official said on Sunday that in the end, U.S. official said on Sunday that there were ways for intelligence officials to feed false information to the balloon, which would largely render the information it gathered worthless. The recovery effort, which is expected to take days, began not long after debris from the balloon hit the water on Saturday, a defense official said. WASHINGTON — Navy divers were searching for debris from the Chinese spy balloon that a U.S.

Pete Buttigieg says president 'considered safety of American people' after Marco Rubio criticizes eight-day wait.

“The message embedded to the world is: ‘We can fly a balloon over airspace of the United States of America and they won’t be able to do anything about it … We should not have let the People’s Republic of China make a mockery of our airspace … The Pentagon has acknowledged reports of a second balloon over Latin America. Blinken said he told a senior Chinese diplomat sending the balloon was “an irresponsible act … President Biden missed the opportunity to defend our sovereignty, send a message of strength and bolster deterrence.” “This puts a big dent in moving that forward in a constructive way, which we really need to do.” The balloon was spotted on Wednesday over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which has fields of nuclear missile silos. and the operation was put in place without pain, damage or injury to any Americans, lives or property”. The Chinese knew this was going to be spotted. It crossed Idaho on Tuesday, the day the White House said Biden was briefed. Marco Rubio of Florida, the Republican vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, was unmoved, telling the same network: “Why didn’t they take action? “The debris field that was created by this balloon which was shot down, it’s about seven miles long.

As a Chinese spy balloon made its way east across the United States last week, a military and diplomatic crisis played out on the ground.

“The balloon never posed a military or physical threat to the American people. officials push back, saying the balloon is clearly used for surveillance and the breach is a clear violation of U.S. The president directs the Pentagon to come up with options to shoot down the balloon as soon as it is safe to do so over U.S. The amphibious ship USS Carter Hall, destroyer USS Oscar Austin and cruiser Philippine Sea are in the area to aid with recovery. He flashes a thumbs up to reporters when asked if the military was going to shoot it down, as he boards Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in New York. The Chinese Foreign Ministry releases a statement acknowledging the balloon is Chinese but claims it’s a civilian airship used to collect weather data. The balloon re-enters U.S. This was “straightforward,” a senior administration official said, “because we could track the exact path of the balloon and ensure no activities or sensitive unencrypted comms would be conducted in its vicinity.” Defense officials estimate debris from the balloon, which is the size of three buses, could fall in at least a seven-mile radius. The balloon is first detected over U.S. The balloon is part of a Chinese fleet developed for spying, which over the past few years have been spotted over countries across five continents, including Asia and Europe. officials, all of whom asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation.

Defence secretary Lloyd Austin said US fighter jets had on Saturday afternoon shot down the surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina in American ...

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President Joe Biden said he wanted to destroy an alleged Chinese spy balloon as soon as he learnt about it, but the weeklong delay before it was finally ...

“He chose to postpone, which indicates willingness on the US end to maintain open channels of communication.” It also had a small motor and propellers, indicating that Chinese spies could manoeuvre the object. But that trip was not expected to yield much in the first place, US officials said at the time, so there is little hand-wringing about its delay. Despite its protests that the balloon was a civilian craft, China came off as a provocateur. The balloon popped and the equipment it was carrying came tumbling down. “They said to me, ‘Let’s wait till the safest place to do it’.”

Biden administration takes credit for the safe takedown of the Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic, while Republicans say it should have been done a week ...

The U.S. The airship first entered the U.S. The discovery of the spy balloon comes at a sensitive time for China. U.S. China’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the U.S. he wants to tell the world that China is open for business again. China said the balloon was gathering meteorological data and driven off course by wind currents, sending it over the United States, which the U.S. “Why let it fly across the middle of the country over military bases? Pete Buttigieg, President Joe Biden’s transportation chief, told CNN’s “State of the Union” show that China’s deployment of the balloon was “an unacceptable intrusion on American sovereignty.” But he said the U.S. military, on Biden’s order last Wednesday, shot it down Saturday “without any damage to people or property…after assessment of the risks” of doing it over the U.S. A political partisan divide quickly emerged Sunday over the U.S. The debris from the missile strike on the balloon, which had been drifting at an altitude of more than 18,000 meters (11 miles), landed about 10 kilometers (6 miles) off the shoreline of the southern U.S.

U.S. defense officials are working to recover the wreckage of a Chinese balloon downed near South Carolina, as relations between the two countries are ...

But the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Shullman said China is hoping to repair its relationship with the U.S. and flex its power on the world stage. "We watched this thing and its capabilities and then took it down where it was safe and maximally recoverable for [counter-intelligence] purposes. at the very moment it was set to host the country's top diplomat. [said](https://www.state.gov/secretary-blinkens-call-with-peoples-republic-of-china-prc-ccp-central-foreign-affairs-office-director-wang-yi/) he was still prepared to "visit Beijing as soon as conditions allow." airspace scuttled a planned meeting of high-level officials from the U.S. Now the U.S. Authorities said they may use uncrewed underwater vessels that can lift the structure up to the surface and place it on a salvage ship. The balloon's intrusion into U.S. "We don't know exactly all the benefits that will derive. The debris splashed down in 47-foot-deep water, making the recovery effort easier than had been originally expected.

If you can't get enough of the Chinese balloon saga, turns out there's another sighting in Costa Rica.

"Keep in mind that this is not the first time this has happened. China after all, has the 2nd largest economy next to the U.S. and China have been spying](https://scrippsnews.com/stories/doj-charges-13-chinese-nationals-accused-of-spying/) on each other with modern technologies. "I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible. Democrats were quick to defend the president. "I want to start by doing something that I don't do very often, which is commending Joe Biden for actually having the guts to shoot this down. While the US has its suspicions, China has continued to claim that the balloon is merely a weather research "airship" that had been blown off course.By Brian Branch via AP That was the right thing to do. The act praised by lawmakers in both parties, including Republican Senator Ted Cruz. territory," said Rep. Unfortunately, he didn't do that until a week after it entered U.S. While the US has its suspicions, China has continued to claim that the balloon is merely a weather research "airship" that had been blown off course.

Recovery of the wreckage could give the United States insight into China's spying capabilities, officials say.

That’s exactly what happened,” US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said on CNN’s State of the Union program. Rubio said he doubted that the balloon’s debris would be of much intelligence value. “China firmly opposes and strongly protests against this,” China’s vice foreign minister Xie Feng said in remarks to the US embassy in China on Monday. VanHerck said the incident took place over US territorial waters. “The debris is in 47 feet of water, primarily. We planned for much deeper water,” the official said adding that the wreckage “would have fallen at least in a seven-mile radius”.

When US military fighter jets shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean this weekend, it wasn't the end of the political ...

The military’s attention next turns to recovering the balloon debris. But the transiting of those three suspected balloons during the previous administration was only discovered after Biden took office, a senior administration official told CNN’s Natasha Bertrand on Sunday. “Both balloons also carry surveillance equipment not usually associated with standard meteorological activities or civilian research,” the official said. “This was a PRC (People’s Republic of China) surveillance balloon. The Pentagon briefed Congress on previous balloons during the Trump administration that flew near Texas and Florida, GOP Rep. But this isn’t the first Chinese surveillance balloon Congress has been briefed on. And the bottom line here is shooting down the surveillance balloon over water wasn’t just the safest option, but it was the one that maximized our intelligence payload,” he said. Schumer also announced the full Senate would receive a comprehensive briefing on China next week. Republicans have flooded the political airwaves with criticism of what they say was Biden’s delayed response, but Democrats are defending [the White House’s approach](http://www.cnn.com/2023/02/04/politics/china-spy-balloon-tick-tock/index.html). We sent a clear message to China that this is not acceptable. Should the balloon have been shot down earlier? What should the US response be?