A balloon floats over Colombia on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. A giant, high-altitude Chinese balloon floated across the US on Friday, sparking serious allegations of espionage at the Pentagon despite China's steadfast denials. (AP Photo)
• Spy balloons are not new - the primitive ones are centuries old, but they came into greater use in World War II.
The US Defense Department said on Thursday it was monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon floating over the western state of Montana, underscoring mutual suspicions between the world's two biggest economies, as top diplomats warned Beijing. Preparing to negotiate.
Later on Friday, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that the Chinese surveillance balloon would likely remain over the US for a few days.
On Saturday, the US alleged that another Chinese spy balloon was spotted flying over Latin America on Saturday. United States Press Secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said, "We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon."
Responding to this, Beijing said on Friday that it regretted the "unexpected" violation of US airspace by what it described as an unmanned civilian airship, after the Pentagon said it was tracking a Chinese spy balloon. Was doing.
A spokesman for China's foreign ministry said, "The airship is from China." "It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes." "The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the aircraft into US airspace due to an unforeseen event," the statement said.
This appearance of Chinese firepower across the US prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a weekend trip to China that was intended to ease tensions that were already high between the countries.
On Saturday, Beijing said US media and politicians have taken advantage of US allegations that China flew a spy balloon over US territory. "Some politicians and the media in the United States used the incident to attack and discredit China," the State Department said in a statement.
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