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New Delhi: The relationship between the United States and China doesn’t seem to be getting better any time soon with the fresh ‘spy balloon’ scene in the picture. Now the Pentagon has confirmed a second such balloon flying over Latin America suspecting it to be another ‘Chinese surveillance balloon’.
According to AP, later Friday, the Pentagon acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement, declining to offer further information such as where it was spotted.
The development comes amid a high-altitude Chinese balloon sailing across the US drawing severe spying accusations from the Pentagon. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his China visit citing the recent developments.
Blinken was due to depart Washington for Beijing late Friday. However, according to AP, he confirmed telling a senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on a phone call that sending the balloon over the US was “an irresponsible act and that (China’s) decision to take this action on the eve of my visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”
After the matter garnered international coverage, China’s Foreign Ministry reacted to the accusations and said that the balloon suspected of spying by the US was a “civilian airship” utilized for research, mostly meteorological objectives, news agency AP reported.
The Pentagon however rejected that out of hand as well as China’s contention that the balloon was not being used for surveillance and had only limited navigational ability, the report added.
According to the statement, the airship has limited steering capability and “deviated significantly from its scheduled route” due to wind. It stated that China regrets the airship’s unintentional incursion into US airspace.
Because of fears about harming people on the ground, the Pentagon chose not to shoot down the balloon, which was potentially flying over vital installations.
The first balloon was spotted earlier over Montana, which is home to one of America’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base, defense officials said.
The report mentions that the US had been tracking the balloon since at least Tuesday, when President Joe Biden was first briefed, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. AP reported citing officials that initially, President Biden was inclined to order the surveillance balloon to be blown out of the sky.
The officials said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, strongly advised Biden against shooting down the balloon due to its considerable weight as it could create a debris field large enough to endanger Americans on the ground, AP reported.
It was not the first time Chinese surveillance balloons have been tracked over US territory, including at least once during former President Donald Trump’s administration, officials said.
US officials said that diplomatic channels remain open and Blinken said he remained willing to travel to China “when conditions allow.”
“We continue to believe that having open lines of communication is important,” he said.
US President Biden declined to comment on the matter when questioned at an economic event. Two likely 2024 reelection challengers, Trump, and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, said the US should immediately shoot down the balloon, AP mentioned in its report.
“Shoot down the balloon. Cancel Blinken’s trip. Hold china accountable. Biden is letting China walk all over us. It’s time to make America strong again,” Haley demanded in a tweet.
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