China’s balloon reached America: Many questions arose regarding espionage from the sky
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China has said that it was a civilian balloon that strayed into US territory and is mainly used for meteorological research. China said that it reached there due to the winds and its ability to turn in any direction is also limited.
A war of words has started between the US and China after a large balloon arrived in American airspace and debate has also erupted on social media. China has said that it was a civilian balloon that strayed into US territory and is mainly used for meteorological research. China said that it reached there due to the winds and its ability to turn in any direction is also limited. However, America is calling it a spy balloon of China.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his trip to China after reports of a Chinese balloon appearing in US airspace. According to the US Department of Defense ‘Pentagon’, the balloon has sensors and monitoring equipment and also has the ability to change direction. It has reached sensitive areas in Montana where nuclear weapons are stored. For this reason, the army swung into action to prevent it from collecting intelligence. A Pentagon spokesman said the balloon could remain over the US for “a few days”.
It is also uncertain where it will go and whether the US will attempt to bring it down safely. Facts known so far about this balloon: The Pentagon and other US officials say it is a Chinese spy balloon the size of three school buses. It is moving eastward over the US at an altitude of about 60,000 feet. The US says it was used for surveillance and intelligence gathering, but officials have provided few details.
Several US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that even before the balloon entered US airspace over Alaska earlier this week, Joe. The Biden administration had come to know about this. The White House said that President Joe Biden was first informed about the balloon on Tuesday. At the same time, the State Department said that Blinken and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke to a senior Chinese official in Washington on Wednesday evening about the matter.
In the first public statement from the US on the issue, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Thursday evening that the balloon posed no threat, an acknowledgment that it was not carrying a weapon. He said that “after the balloon was detected, the US government took immediate action to protect sensitive information.” It may not, but it does pose a risk to America.
He also said that China may have sent the balloon “to show us that they can do it, and they may have a weapon next time.” Now “we have to spend money and time on this.” According to senior administration officials, President Biden initially wanted to take action to drop the balloon. Some MPs also had the same opinion.
But top Pentagon officials advised Biden against the move because of the risk to the safety of people on the ground, and the president agreed. As far as wind direction is concerned, China says that global air currents ‘Westerlies’ carried the balloon from its area to the western side of the US. For two decades, Dan Jaffe, professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of Washington, has studied air pollution from Chinese cities, smoke from wildfires from Siberia and dust from the Gobi Desert sandstorms reaching the US.
“The delivery time from China to the US will be about a week,” Jaffe said. The higher it goes, the faster it moves.” The US has been largely silent on the issue, but leaders are insisting that the balloon is dynamic. Also, they say that China intentionally sent the balloon towards American airspace. History of Spy Balloons The use of spy balloons is not a new thing. Many such balloons were used during World War II.
Administration officials said Friday that there have been other similar incidents of Chinese spy balloons. An official said that there were two such incidents during the Trump administration but it was never made public. During World War II, Japan released thousands of hydrogen balloons carrying bombs, and hundreds of these reached the United States and Canada. Most were ineffective, but one proved fatal, and in May 1945, six people died when a balloon crashed to the ground in Oregon.
Disclaimer:IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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