China has urged “calm” amid a dispute over a giant Chinese balloon which is sailing high above the US.
China has urged “calm” amid a dispute over a giant Chinese balloon which is sailing high above the US.
The balloon has led to Pentagon accusations of spying on sensitive military sites, despite China’s firm denials, and prompted US secretary of state Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing tensions with China.
Aside from the government response, fuzzy videos dotted social media as people with binoculars tried to find the “spy balloon” in the sky as it headed south-east over Kansas and Missouri at 60,000 feet.
It was spotted earlier over Montana, which is home to one of America’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base, defence officials said.
Later on Friday, the Pentagon acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America.
“We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” said brigadier general Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary. He declined to offer further information such as where it was spotted.
The US actually had been tracking the initial balloon since at least Tuesday, when President Joe Biden was first briefed, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
According to three US officials, Mr Biden was initially inclined to order the surveillance balloon to be blown out of the sky, and a senior defence official said the US had prepared fighter jets, including F-22s, to shoot it down if ordered.
The officials said defence secretary Lloyd Austin and general Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, strongly advised Mr Biden against shooting down the balloon, warning that its size – as big as three buses – and considerable weight could create a debris field large enough to endanger Americans on the ground.
