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China admits alleged spy balloon flying over US is its own but says it is a weather blimp that went astray

2023-02-03T14:42:24.150Z


After the alert from the Pentagon, to which Canada joined, the communist regime assures that it is a scientific device that by accident "deviated from its planned course." 


By Jennifer Jett -

NBC News

China admitted this Friday that the alleged spy balloon detected over the US skies, which raised the Pentagon alert, is its own, but specified that it is a "civilian airship" for scientific purposes that accidentally "diverted from its course". .

"The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research purposes, mainly meteorological," the Beijing Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.

"China regrets the unintentional entry of the aircraft into US airspace due to force majeure," it said.

He added that China will continue to communicate with the United States to "properly handle this unexpected situation."

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The communist regime said that due to strong winds and a lack of steerability, the object "deviated greatly from its planned course. The balloon has been sighted in Billings, Montana, about 6,000 miles from China."

Canada reported in the last few hours that it was monitoring a "second potential incident" related to a balloon;

China has not yet responded to this complaint.

[USA.

monitors a possible Chinese spy balloon that has flown over the national territory for days

]

US officials said Thursday that the Pentagon is monitoring the balloon, which flew over the Aleutian Islands and across Canada before being seen over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday.

A senior defense official claimed the United States believed the balloon belonged to China, which has flown other stratospheric balloons over the country before, but not for as long.

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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said, "China is a responsible country that always abides by international law and has no intention of infringing on any country's territory and airspace."

"We hope that both parties can handle this together calmly and carefully," he added.

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This incident comes days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits China;

he is the highest-ranking official in the Biden Administration to have made that trip so far.

Mao said he had no information on whether his visit would be affected.

In a brief statement late Thursday night, Canada's Department of National Defense said a high-altitude surveillance balloon had been detected and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a US-Canadian military organization, was being "actively tracked".

He did not provide details about the balloon or say if it was the same balloon.

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"Canadians are safe and Canada is taking steps to ensure the safety of its airspace, including monitoring for a possible second incident," it said, without elaborating.

The statement, which did not mention China, added that Canadian intelligence agencies work with US partners to protect against "foreign intelligence threats."

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A senior Pentagon official said Thursday that the balloon was still over the United States, but declined to say where.

According to him, no shots have been fired at him because the falling debris could represent a risk to people's safety.

He asserted that the balloon does not pose a threat to civil aviation and has limited use for intelligence gathering, although the state of Montana hosts one of the country's three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base.

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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday that he has requested a briefing on the matter for a group that includes Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, as well as the presidents and minority members of the Congressional Intelligence committees.

Chinese experts raised questions about the globe's origin in an article published Friday in The Global Times, a state-backed nationalist tabloid.

Liu Ming, head of science and technology intelligence company MizarVision, said images released by US officials appeared to show a balloon unable to travel such long distances or with such precision.

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Military expert Zhang Xuefeng told the newspaper that the US would not necessarily be able to identify the country of origin of the balloon while it was still in the sky, and that it did not make sense for China to use balloons to spy on the US mainland when it has a network. satellite much more effective.

"The United States is recommended to shoot down the balloon and find some clues before blaming other countries," Zhang said.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2023-02-03

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