US shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon
World
We successfully brought it down, President Biden commends aviators for successful operation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the US military fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, bringing to an end a dramatic story that brought attention to the deteriorating Sino-US ties.
US President Joe Biden said, "We successfully brought it down and I want to commend our aviators who accomplished it."
The shootdown occurred soon after the United States government banned flying over the South Carolina coast as part of what it claimed to be a national security initiative at the time.
The balloon has been described as a clear infringement of American sovereignty by Washington.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that China was using the balloon in an attempt to spy strategic installations in the continental United States when the shootdown was originally reported.
President Biden claimed that he had instructed the Pentagon on Wednesday to quickly shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon.
A stream from a jet struck the balloon but there was no explosion, according to a Reuters photographer who saw the shootdown. The photographer said that it then started to fall, the News Agency reported.
Military officers earlier this week advised against firing down the balloon while it was above Montana due to the possibility of falling debris, Reuters quoted citing sources.
After the balloon was brought down the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that arrival and departure flights from three South Carolina airports — Wilmington, Myrtle Beach and Charleston — had resumed after being suspended earlier in the day due to a national security effort.
For the purpose of clearing the airspace over the South Carolina coast the FAA had issued a temporary flying restriction. The warning prohibited flights to an area larger than 100 square miles (260 square kilometers) mostly over the Atlantic Ocean, according to a document published by the FAA. The notification cautioned that if aircraft disobey instructions to leave and breach the limits the military may respond with lethal force.
Two US military planes were flying beside the alleged surveillance balloon which was visible to the Reuters photographer in the Myrtle Beach region.
China expressed remorse that an airship employed for scientific research and other non-military objectives erred and entered American airspace.
The airship's trip over the United States was a result of a force majeure mishap, according to China's foreign ministry, which also charged American politicians and media for exploiting the incident to cast doubt on Beijing.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a trip to China this week that was scheduled to begin on Friday as a result of the alleged Chinese spy balloon.
Those who regarded Blinken's trip as a long overdue chance to mend the increasingly acrimonious ties between the two nations are disappointed by its postponement. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to meet in November.
China wants a stable relationship with the United States so that it can concentrate on its economy, which has been hurt by the now-abandoned zero-COVID policy and ignored by international investors who are concerned about what they perceive to be a return of state meddling in the market.
The Pentagon said on Friday that another Chinese balloon had been spotted over Latin America without specifying where.
