On Sunday, in connection with the downing of a Chinese spy balloon by the US military, Republican lawmakers said the balloon should have been shot down more than a week ago before it could fly over major military installations in the country.
Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN the U.S. military shot him down on Biden’s orders on Saturday over water off the southeastern coast of South Carolina.” without any damage to persons or property … after assessing the risks”. He stressed that the launch of a spy balloon is “an unacceptable intrusion into (the area of) American sovereignty”.
Debris from a missile attack on a balloon that was drifting at an altitude of more than 18,000 meters (11 miles) landed about 10 kilometers (6 miles) off the coast of South Carolina. Navy ships scavenge debris from the ocean to send to the FBI lab for analysis.
China said the balloon was collecting weather data and was blown away by the wind, which the United States dismissed as cover for an intelligence-gathering mission.
The military said any information the balloon may have transmitted to China was immaterial and could not be different from what China and the United States collect from spy satellites stationed over the territory of the army. ‘other.
However, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said in a Fox interview that the balloon flight was “a reminder of what the Chinese are capable of” and that the incident was “humiliating…and shameful” for United States.
“It’s a failure that I don’t understand,” said Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. “Why let it fly across the country over military bases? “If we (send our balloon) over China, they will shoot it down.
The Department of Defense said the balloon entered US airspace on January 31. On Thursday, it was seen flying over Montana, where there are US nuclear missile silos.
The United States said it took technological measures to prevent the balloon from picking up information as it flew over the country.
Dennis Wilder, a former CIA China analyst, told media that if information was extracted from the wreckage of the balloon to show it was indeed a spy mission and not a weather mission , it would embarrass China.
“Especially if the United States releases this information very publicly, there will be a period of tension (with China),” he said.
Another Chinese balloon has been spotted over Latin America.
