China and Taiwan are responding after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of North Carolina on Saturday.
President Joe Biden ordered the three-bus sized balloon to be shot down as soon as possible, which meant holding off on the operation until it was safely over waters.
On Friday, the Pentagon confirmed that a second Chinese balloon had been found over Latin America, despite intelligence recovery efforts for the balloon. According to the Daily Mail, the Panama Canal is passing more closely over the Panama Canal and southeast over Venezuela.
Reports of a balloon transiting through Latin America have been reported. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told CNN.
The S.- located balloon, while China stated that the airship had unintentionally entered the U.S. airspace due to force majeure, and called the shooting down of the balloon an obvious overreaction. Ryder told reporters that the balloon actually had the ability to maneuver and denied China's claims of its civilian research purpose.
On Sunday, China's ministry of foreign affairs said that China will resolutely uphold the relevant company's legitimate rights and interests and reserve the right to take further actions in response. As for reactions from other countries, Taiwan, which has repeatedly had Chinese balloons floating over its territory, said that the incident should not be tolerated by the international community because such actions contravene international law, breach the airspace of other countries and violate their sovereignty.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement, saying that the CCP regime should immediately cease conduct of this kind that encroaches on other countries and causes regional instability. Back in the U.S. Republican leadership, lawmakers had called for the Biden administration to act quickly. Senator Marco Rubio R-FL of the Senate's intelligence committee told the New York Post that China sent its balloon as a message and that the communist country sees the U.S. in decline Meanwhile, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis R-NY told the New York Post that Communist China's surveillance balloon violates international law and threatens our homeland. A third Chinese Balloon: According to The Washington Post, a third balloon is operating elsewhere, although its location has not yet been revealed.
Officials don't know exactly what the balloons do, just that they have some sophisticated communication gear. China had said the first balloon was collecting weather data when it was blown off course, but it was spotted in Montana hovering over a U.S. military base with nuclear missile silos.
The Pentagon has looked at 366 unexplained incidents since 2021 and determined that 163 were balloons, according to The New York Times.
A U.S. defense official said there were three Chinese spy balloons that entered U.S. airspace during President Donald Trump's administration.
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