US military says it is searching for the remains of a Chinese spy balloon

 

The US military said on Sunday it was searching for the remains of a Chinese surveillance balloon shot down a day earlier.

The US military said on Sunday it was searching for the remains of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon it shot down the previous day, in a dramatic espionage saga that has further strained US-China relations.

The US Navy is working to recover the balloon and its payload and the Coast Guard is providing security for the operation, said General Glenn VanHerk, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command.

A successful recovery could potentially give the United States information about China's espionage capabilities, although US officials have downplayed the balloon's impact on national security.

A US Air Force fighter jet shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it first entered US airspace near Alaska. VanHerk said the incident occurred in US territorial waters.

China protested the response as a "clear overreaction", but analysts said any retaliatory moves by Beijing would be finely calibrated to avoid worsening relations.

Republican lawmakers on Sunday criticized President Joe Biden for waiting to shoot down a balloon floating over the United States, accusing him of showing weakness toward China and initially trying to cover up a violation of US airspace. Accused of.

"I think part of it is the president's reluctance to take any action that would be seen as provocative or confrontational toward Chinese communists," said Republican Tom Cotton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Former President Donald Trump and his former director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, denied Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's assessment that similar balloons crossed the United States during his presidency.

"China had too much respect for 'Trump' for this to happen, and it never happened," Trump wrote on the social media site TruthSocial.

But Republican Representative Michael Waltz backed Austin, telling the Washington Post that the Pentagon had informed Congress that Chinese balloons had been seen near the United States several times during Trump's tenure.

He said the balloons had been seen near Texas and twice near Florida, as well as earlier sightings near Hawaii and Guam.

Democrats said Biden's decision to wait to shoot down the balloon until it had passed over the United States protected civilians from debris falling to Earth.

"The president has asked to deal with this in a way that balances all the different risks. That's exactly what happened," US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on CNN's "State of the Union" program.