The statement said the device “used by the People’s Republic of China to monitor strategic positions in the continental United States” was shot down over water off the coast of South Carolina by two warplanes.
Minutes later, Biden himself spoke up and told the media accompanying him that the balloon had launched “successfully” and that he had given the order last Wednesday.
Several witnesses quoted by the media said they saw the balloon being launched. According to a CNN statement from a local photographer who saw the incident, several planes flew over the area and hit the balloon with a “missile or similar.”
The Pentagon announced last Thursday that it was tracking the movement of a Chinese “spy balloon” flying over the state of Montana (in the northeastern United States), where one of three existing nuclear missile silos on US soil is located.
READ ALSO: US closes three airports for Chinese spy balloon
Initially, the Pentagon leadership recommended that nothing be done to the device for security reasons, as debris could fall on the public. But when the device reached the sea, the United States finally decided to drop it.
The presence of this Chinese “spy bubble” in US airspace sparked a diplomatic crisis between Washington and Beijing and led to the suspension of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned trip to China.
China admitted on Friday that the balloon was his, but assured it was “a civilian airship used for research purposes, mainly meteorological purposes”.
Source: Ultimahora
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Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
