The United States yesterday denied accusations made by China that they were using balloons for espionage, while trying to unravel the mystery involving three unidentified flying objects shot down in recent days. “That’s not true. We didn’t do that,” said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby yesterday, when asked about the matter by the press. “In the last year alone, American balloons have flown over China more than 10 times without any authorization”, accused the spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin earlier.
The US State Department accused China of “trying to limit the damage” caused by “its surveillance balloon program”, which, according to Washington, involves spying on 40 countries on five continents. Relations between the two countries are even more tense after the US shot down, on February 4, a Chinese balloon that was flying over American territory. According to Washington, the device had the mission of obtaining information about military installations. A false accusation, ensures Beijing, by stating that the balloon had Chinese origin, but that the device was used for meteorological observation and would have violated American air space unintentionally. China made the same claim on Feb. 6 about a balloon flying over Latin America.
On Sunday, the Pentagon said it still does not have details about the other three objects downed: one on Friday, over Alaska; another on Saturday over Canadian Yukon territory; and the most recent one on Sunday itself over Lake Huron, in the North of the USA. Of the so-called unidentified flying objects, Washington claims to know nothing or almost nothing: neither their origin, nor their use, nor their nature. The only thing that seems clear is that none of them posed a direct military threat, but they potentially endangered civilian air traffic, which is why President Joe Biden ordered fighter jets to shoot them down.
Alien
In the land of the movie “ET” and the science fiction series “The X-Files”, this mystery feeds all kinds of speculation and theory. General Glen VanHerck, head of the United States Northern Command, said “not ruling anything out” in response to a question from a journalist about a possible extraterrestrial origin of the objects, a phrase that went viral.
Yesterday, however, the American government tried to make it clear that there are no signs of extraterrestrial activity in relation to these UFOs. “There is no evidence of extraterrestrials with these recent takedowns, I wanted to make sure the American people were aware of that,” said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Over the weekend, Chinese state media reported that an unidentified flying object was observed off the east coast of the country and that the army was preparing to shoot down the device. The American government, in collaboration with Canada, is now trying to find and analyze the remains of objects destroyed in the last three days. Some of the devices landed in icy seas or in remote regions of the continent.
Some information leaked. The first two “objects” destroyed flew at an altitude of 12,000 meters and were the size of a small car (while the Chinese balloon was the size of three buses). The device destroyed in Yukon was “cylindrical” in shape, according to Ottawa. The Pentagon described it as “octagonal” and said it moved slowly at an altitude of 6,000 meters.
“Fleet”
It is clear to the US that China maintains or has maintained a “fleet” of spy balloons. The Americans also applied sanctions against companies and research structures that, according to them, contribute to China’s military modernization. Beijing described these measures as “illegal”.
China has been critical of the use of force to destroy its balloon and has rejected a phone call between US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe after the incident. However, the Pentagon said on Sunday that talks had resumed between the two countries, which compete for economic, technological and strategic hegemony in the world.
Ironically, the Republican opposition celebrated the fact that the 80-year-old president quickly ordered the destruction of the last objects, after allegedly taking too long to shoot down the Chinese balloon. However, he called for more “transparency” about objects culled since Friday.
“INVASO” OF THE VNIS
Check out the timeline and what is or is not known about flying objects in American air space
February 4th: US military shoots down suspected surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina. It drifted for days over the US, and officials said the object came from China and was monitoring sensitive locations.
February, 10th: The US shoots down another object in northern Alaska, which officials said had no propulsion or control systems.
February 11: an American fighter shoots down a “high-altitude aerial object” over Canadian Yukon territory, about 100 miles from the US border. It was described as cylindrical and smaller than the first balloon.
February 12th: US jets shoot down fourth high-altitude object near Lake Huron “out of an abundance of caution”
WHAT IS KNOWN
What do the last three vinyls consist of?
The three unidentified objects brought down in recent days are very different in size and shape from the Chinese balloon. According to the US government, the first was “the size of a small car” and flew at an altitude of 40,000 feet (12,000 meters). The artifact was traveling towards the North Pole without any propulsion or control system. It was shot down over Alaska last Friday (10/2) because it posed a threat to civilian aircraft. The second had a “cylindrical” appearance and was sighted for the first time over the Canadian territory of Yukon, in the northwest of that country, on Friday night. He was shot down on Saturday. The third supposedly had an “octagonal” shape and was shot down above Lake Huron, in the state of Michigan.
What was the first of the objects, the balloon, actually doing?
The balloon was first discovered on January 28 in Alaska, then in Montana and finally shot down on the east coast on February 4. The Pentagon said it was a Chinese spy balloon flying at about 60,000 feet. Fragments of the balloon fell over a length of 11 km and sank to a depth of 14 meters.
What kind of data was the balloon collecting?
Rescue teams have collected some debris and are using boats and mini-submarines to find other parts of what’s left of the object. US officials described the balloon in some detail — 60 meters tall and complete with multiple antennas, solar panels and surveillance equipment — but said nothing about what kind of data they believe the artifact was collecting.
Are these the only wines found in the last few weeks?
At the. A balloon was sighted by the Colombian Air Force and is believed to have flown over several Latin American countries. It is not known whether, in fact, there are more objects in the air or whether more improved detection methods have made it possible to observe more clearly those that already exist. After the first balloon was located, the radar operated by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was improved to detect smaller objects. As a US official told Reuters news agency, “We are definitely looking at everything more closely now.”
How many objects were sighted?
The increase in sightings precedes the more recent cases. A January report from the US military revealed hundreds of new flying objects in American airspace. There were 366 new sightings recorded in 2022 compared to the previous year. Of that total, 163 were balloons, 26 were drones, and six were described as space junk.
What is China’s role in all this?
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated further since the US accused China of using the balloon for espionage. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has canceled an official visit to Beijing. The US linked the balloon they shot down in the Atlantic Ocean to a global surveillance program that, according to the US government, is being conducted by China, putting other countries on alert.
What does China say?
China claimed responsibility for both the balloon shot down in American territory and the one that was detected in Latin America, but denied that the artifacts were used for espionage, claiming they were meteorological monitoring devices that were lost. The destruction of the balloon in the United States “seriously violated international practice”, Beijing said, adding that it reserved the right to “use the necessary means to deal with such situations”. And he accused the US of 10 incursions into Chinese airspace.