President Joe Biden on Thursday spoke of high-altitude Chinese balloons and three other objects shot down by American fighters.
Responding to requests from lawmakers for a more detailed account of several unidentified objects found on US soil, Biden said the three unidentified objects shot down by US warplanes were not used to spy on the United States. and were most likely related to private business or research. establishments.
Recall that on February 4, an American fighter shot down a Chinese balloon. The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that US military and intelligence agencies have been tracking the balloon since it took off from Hainan province in southern China. Then three more objects were shot down – two over Alaska and a third over Lake Huron.
National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said on Tuesday that the US intelligence community is considering the possibility that the three sites are linked to commercial or other non-hazardous activities.
He said the United States still had no certainty about the origin of the three objects.
Asked about Biden’s expected remarks, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday again called the downed balloon an “unmanned civilian airship” and said its flight into US airspace was an “isolated incident.” “.
The United States “should be prepared to adapt to China, manage differences, and appropriately handle individual and unexpected incidents to avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments, and help restore U.S.-China relations.” on a healthy and stable development path,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. .
Biden has tasked national security adviser Jake Sullivan with leading a multi-agency task force to come up with a set of recommendations on how to proceed with unidentified objects.
The group is expected to come up with a series of recommendations later this week and provide advice on what circumstances to consider before shooting down an unidentified object.
