Chinese balloon

Was Beijing trying to sabotage talks with the US, monitor the speed of its military response, or just test Joe Biden's mettle?

It will soon be able to approach the Chinese government in possession of the balloon’s payload and an understanding of its technology. Others said he was right to postpone, as the furore would have crowded out everything else on the very full and urgent bilateral agenda. Why send a balloon to do your spying in an age of satellites? However, it is unclear what a balloon could see in the missile silos of Montana that was not already known to the Chinese. If it was indeed a spy balloon, the whole episode raises a lot of questions about decision-making in Beijing. It was quite predictable that the balloon would be spotted, tracked and potentially shot down, and that all this would happen in the run-up to secretary of state Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing.

An F-22 fighter jet destroyed a Chinese balloon with a missile Saturday (Feb. 4) when the airship was over the Atlantic Ocean off the South Carolina coast.

Follow him on Twitter [@michaeldwall](https://twitter.com/michaeldwall) (opens in new tab). Follow us [@Spacedotcom](https://twitter.com/spacedotcom) (opens in new tab), or on airspace accidentally, at the mercy of the winds. "This surveillance balloon purposely traversed the United States and Canada, and we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites." [Chinese balloon](https://www.space.com/china-surveillance-balloon-us-airspace) on Saturday (Feb. at least three times during the administration of Biden's predecessor as president, Donald Trump. "I would also note that while we took all necessary steps to protect against the PRC surveillance balloon's collection of sensitive information, the surveillance balloon's overflight of U.S. territory was of intelligence value to us," an unnamed senior defense official said in the DOD update. Department of Defense (DOD) wrote in an For perspective: Commercial airliners fly at an average altitude of about 35,000 feet (10,700 m). The shallow water should allow recovery of at least some debris, analysis of which could reveal details of China's surveillance technology, military officials said. military first detected the balloon on Jan.

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.

"China had too much respect for 'TRUMP' for this to have happened, and it NEVER did," Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"He has the ability to convene the country and cameras and basically explain what we're dealing with here and why he's made the decisions he's making and what they intend to do." [Joe Biden](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/joe-biden) order the balloon be downed, with Trump writing on his Truth Social website on Friday: ["SHOOT DOWN The BALLOON!" military shot down](https://www.newsweek.com/airspace-closed-biden-reportedly-considering-downing-chinese-balloon-1778997) what the [Pentagon](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/pentagon) said was a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America. [Donald Trump](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/donald-trump). Again, these are all open questions for which the American people deserve answers and we in So this is no comparison to anything that may have happened up to this point." "Why didn't the president go on television?" He added: "Now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the 'heat' off the slow moving Biden fools. "Not to the best of my knowledge," he said. "This is different in kind, for sure… China had too much respect for 'TRUMP' for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. Officials said this had also happened on at least one other occasion during Biden's time as president.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said President Biden authorized the operation to shoot down the balloon.

NASA was also brought it to determine what the debris field may look like when the balloon was shot down, the Biden officials said. Biden directed the military to present options for how to shoot down the balloon immediately. The senior defense official also said that the U.S. The senior defense official told CBS News that the balloon was about six nautical miles off the coast of South Carolina when it was shot down. The military Wednesday then presented options to Mr. Senior Biden administration officials told CBS News that, after the balloon was shot down, the U.S government spoke directly with the Chinese government about the action. Flights resumed shortly after the balloon was taken down. Those Biden officials said the balloon was first detected over Alaska on Jan. airspace on Tuesday, the Biden officials disclosed. Biden told reporters that "we're gonna take care of" the balloon. The balloon was shot down by U.S. After the operation, Mr.

The downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was met by lawmakers with a mix of praise, criticism and concern.

Patrick Ryder said the balloon didn't pose a physical or military threat, and once it was detected, the U.S. protects American lives while responding "effectively" to the violation of U.S. And so we took additional precautions to make sure that whatever additive intel value would be minimized," the official said. Tim Scott, R-S.C., [called it](https://twitter.com/SenatorTimScott/status/1621973003943743493) a "dereliction of Biden's duty." Senior administration officials told ABC News that shooting down the balloon safely sends the message that the U.S. military for "putting the safety of the American people first." "The surveillance balloon's overflight of U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on Saturday that he ordered the Pentagon to shoot the balloon down "as soon as possible" on Wednesday. -- and that the situation called for a more forceful response. The Pentagon has confirmed the high-altitude balloon was being used for surveillance, disputing China's claim that it was a civilian aircraft used for meteorological purposes. The balloon was shot down by a U.S. military was met by lawmakers with a mix of praise for the safe and

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.

The FAA rerouted air traffic from the area and warned of delays as a result of the flight restrictions. The officials said the U.S. 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. 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. “In actuality, the U.S. China has claimed that the balloon was merely a weather research “airship” that had been blown off course. 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 officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. He was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water, U.S. 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 U.S. The giant white orb was spotted Saturday morning over the Carolinas as it approached the Atlantic coast.

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.

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.