The US government has shot down the Chinese “spy balloon” that has been flying over the national territory in recent days, according to local media.
Several witnesses cited by local media claimed to have seen how the balloon was shot down. the american chain cnn reported that the Army was in charge of the operation. The balloon was over the Atlantic Ocean.
Video shows the moment the Chinese surveillance balloon that crossed the United States had been shot down in US airspace.
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— ABC News (@ABC) February 4, 2023
Shortly after, the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin, confirmed that by order of President Joe Biden last Wednesday the “spy balloon” had been shot down “successfully”.
Through a statement, quoted by efespecified that the device “which was being used by the People’s Republic of China in an attempt to monitor strategic sites in the continental United States” had been shot down with two combat planes over the waters of the Atlantic, off the coast of South Carolina .
The alleged spy balloon was first spotted in the sky over Montana earlier this week and traveled through the center of the country following weather patterns before leaving the continental United States on Saturday, the television reported.
At noon this Saturday, Biden had stated from Syracuse, New York, that his government “would take over the alleged spy balloon.”
Hours later, an order from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) closed three airports and restricted airspace over North and South Carolina “in support of the Department of Defense,” according to this source.
China made it known that it was an “airship” used for civilian meteorological and other scientific purposes, and, according to EuroNewsregretted that it had entered American airspace.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed that the balloon had entered US airspace by accident. But the State Department questioned their presence and claimed it was “a clear violation of our sovereignty, as well as international law, and it is unacceptable that this has happened.”
For its part, the agency xinhua It included the criteria of the director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Wang Yi, who on Friday classified the incident as “fortuitous.”
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In a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he argued that “China and the United States should stay the course to maintain timely communication, avoid misjudgment, and properly manage their differences in the face of a fortuitous event.”
“Being a responsible country, China always strictly abides by international law and will not accept any baseless speculation or extreme propaganda actions,” Wang stressed.
In construction…
