The Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to block it from doing so, according to two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official. China was able to control the balloon so it could make […]
Tag: Spy balloon
China doubles down on Blinken in balloon row
As the rift between the US and China over the balloon saga widens, so has the divide within the global community scrutinising their high-stakes dispute. The latest testy exchange took place on Saturday, when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met China’s foreign affairs minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of a security conference in […]
What we know so far about Chinese spy balloon
As U.S. Navy crews continue to fish parts of the alleged Chinese spy balloon out of the Atlantic, a senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, gave reporters an update on Thursday on some of what has been learned so far. High-resolution imagery from U-2 flybys showed that the balloon was “capable […]
US-China relations wounded by Balloon saga
As the balloon crashed into the sea so did attempts to mend China-US relations. You can track the trajectory of China’s response to its balloon just as the Pentagon was tracking the trajectory of a high-altitude piece of equipment destined to be blown out of the sky. We’re investigating; we regret that it is our […]
Beijing threatens retaliation over balloon pop
Beijing’s abrupt shift from expressing regret to threatening retaliation over the US’s spy-balloon claims reflects the domestic imperative for Xi Jinping to show he’s standing up for China against external pressure, further narrowing the window to reset ties before the US election season gets into full swing. This weekend was supposed to be a step […]
China says US has ‘Hyped up’ their ‘Civilian’ Balloon
The People’s Republic of China is maintaining the claim that the Chinese balloon spotted over the northern United States is a civilian weather device. “Regarding the unintended entry of a Chinese unmanned airship into US airspace due to force majeure, the Chinese side has verified it and communicated it to the US side. It is […]
Biden to Pentagon: ‘Don’t shoot the China spy balloon’
President Joe Biden is facing a wave of criticism after deciding against shooting down a Chinese spy ballon that has reportedly been hovering over the country for days. Officials have been tracking the high-altitude surveillance ballon since it entered U.S. airspace, according to Reuters. Biden chose against firing at the balloon, which was spotted over […]