The United States on Saturday shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean after tracking for days. A suspected surveillance balloon, entered from Canada, was taken down as it crossed continental America after hovering over its skies from Montana to South Carolina.
At the direction of President Biden, US fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by the People's Republic of China PRC over the water off the coast of South Carolina in US airspace, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin said in a statement on Saturday.
Austin said the balloon, which China was using in an effort to surveil strategic sites in the continental US, was brought down above US territorial waters. On Wednesday, the defense secretary said that U.S. President Joe Biden gave his authorisation to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be completed without a significant risk to American lives under the balloon's path.
The US military commanders decided to downe the balloon over land after careful analysis, possing an unnecessary risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload. The Department of Defense developed options to take down the balloon safely over the US territorial waters while closely monitoring its path and intelligence collection activities.
Austin said that the action was taken in coordination and with the full support of the Canadian government. He thanked Canada for its contribution to the tracking and analysis of the balloon through NORAD as it transited North America. Today's deliberate and lawful action shows that President Biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the American people first, while responding effectively to the PRC's unacceptable violation of our sovereignty, he said.
China called the shooting down of balloon a'serious violation of international practice' and has threatened consequences, the news agency AFP reported. Beijing had expressed regret over the balloon over the US, and said it was a weather airship that had been blown astray. The Chinese foreign ministry said on Saturday that Beijing ''never violated the territory and airspace of any sovereign country.
The balloon, seen days before the planned visit by US Secretary Anthony Blinken to China, has sparked new tensions between Washington and Beijing. Secretary Blinken called off his visit to China after the balloon was spotted.