Chinese spy balloon case: U.S. Navy personnel seen on Sunday recovering the remains of the balloon in the Atlantic Ocean
A fighter jet shot a Chinese spy balloon into the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday. On Sunday, cellphone video showed U.S. Navy personnel with what looked like a white, deflated balloon lying across two boats.
The Pentagon says that the balloon was up to 200 feet tall and that when it exploded, it left a field of debris about 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters.
After entering U.S. airspace for the first time on January 28, the balloon flew over or close to four military sites in Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, and Missouri.
Republicans are very angry that the balloon floated over the U.S. for a week.
Sen. Ted Cruz said on Sunday’s “Face the Nation” that he let the Chinese spy on sensitive military installations in the United States for a full week.
President Biden said he told the military to shoot down the balloon on Wednesday, but his staff told him to wait until it was over water.
China says it was a weather balloon that went off course, and calls the U.S. response “unacceptable” and a “overreaction.”
When asked on Monday if the balloon hurts relations between the U.S. and China, Mr. Biden said “no.”
He said, “We’ve told China what we’re going to do.” “They know where we stand. We won’t stop fighting.”
The White House said that similar spy balloons from China have entered U.S. airspace at least three times during the Trump administration. Senior administration officials said that wasn’t found out until after the last administration left office. The people who work for Biden wouldn’t say how or when they learned about the balloons.
Gen. Glen VanHerck, who is in charge of the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said on Monday that the Pentagon has missed Chinese balloon threats in the past because of a “awareness gap” that the U.S. needs to figure out.
VanHerck told reporters, “I can tell you that we did not find those threats.”
China also uses satellites, but balloons are cheaper, easier to move, and can stay in one place longer.
Susan Shirk, a former expert on China at the State Department, said that the incident makes Beijing look bad.
Shirk said, “I think it’s more than just embarrassing.” “I think it shows that Xi Jinping’s government isn’t very good at what it does.”
