WASHINGTON — The United States has said Chinese observation balloons have been sighted on at least five continents in recent years, and Washington is in contact with its allies to share information about those operations.
“We have already exchanged information with dozens of countries around the world, both from Washington and through our embassies. We are doing this because the United States was not the only target of this program which violated the sovereignty of countries on five continents,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a press conference with the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the State Department.
“As for who is responsible for this, it is China. And on some level, it doesn’t matter which people can or cannot be held responsible,” Blinken said, when asked if he thought Chinese President Xi Jinping was aware of the surveillance balloon operations.
The head of the American diplomacy declared that Washington learns “every hour” more information on the progress of the work of raising the balloon and in the next days he will be able to say more.
Reuters reported on Monday that Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman briefed about 150 diplomats from 40 embassies, and the US Embassy in Beijing convened foreign diplomats earlier this week to present US findings on surveillance balloon operations. .
