The US sanctions six Chinese companies for the spy balloon and the diplomatic crisis worsens

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The United States added six Chinese entities linked to Beijing's aerospace programs to its blacklist as part of its retaliation for an alleged Chinese spy balloon that recently flew through US airspace.

The economic sanctions announced Friday afternoon followed a commitment by the Joe Biden administration to consider broader measures to tackle Chinese espionage activities and will make it more difficult for the five companies and a research institute to obtain US technology for export. .

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The move is likely

, which was shot down last weekend off the coast of South Carolina.

The United States said the balloon was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals, but Beijing insists it was a weather device that went off course.

Special agents process material recovered from the high-altitude hot air balloon recovered off the coast of South Carolina, on February 9, 2023, at the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.AP

The incident prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-profile trip to Beijing aimed at easing bilateral tensions.

The US Bureau of Industry and Security said the six Chinese entities were being targeted for "their support for China's military modernization efforts, specifically the People's Liberation Army (PLA) aerospace programs, which include aircraft and balloons”.

“The PLA is using High Altitude Balloons (HAB) for intelligence and reconnaissance activities,” he added.

US believes China deploys spy balloons around the world

Feb 9, 202300:27

US Under Secretary of Commerce Don Graves tweeted that his department "will not hesitate to continue to use" such restrictions and other regulatory and compliance tools "to protect the national security and sovereignty of the United States."

[Colombia detected an object similar to the Chinese spy balloon: the Pentagon had warned of another in Latin America]

On Friday, a US fighter jet shot down an unknown object flying off the remote north coast of Alaska, on Biden's orders.

The object was shot down because it reportedly posed a threat to the safety of civilian flights, rather than claiming it was a surveillance craft.

And this Saturday the United States shot down a third unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave the order to bring it down.

The three similar incidents in such close succession reflect heightened concern about China's surveillance program and public pressure on Biden to take a tough stance against it.