Row over China balloon: Washington expresses strong indignation
… May shoot down identified object
By PHC Telegraph
China’s eye in a balloon, subject of fresh controversy between it and the US.As the world gradually drifts in the direction of a possible global crisis, a diplomatic row is currently developing between the United States and China, two super powers, following the entry of a balloon into the former’s airspace.
American officials suspect that the China balloon may be on a spying mission.
The balloon which has heightened tension and raised controversy was first spotted at Billings, Montana on Wednesday.
The Americans suspect that the balloon, the size of three busses, is on an intelligence gathering mission.
For years, a Port Harcourt Telegraph Correspondent reports, Americans have had to deal with the myth of unidentified flying objects, UFOs.
But what crawled into US airspace Wednesday and which is now a source of intense analysis by defense experts and public analysts is identifiable.
A Defense Department Spokesman speaking on the threat from China.Pentagon sources have identified the flying object in US territory that is gliding across the sky as a balloon belonging to China.
China’s Foreign Ministry has denied that the balloon which has entered US airspace was tactically deployed on a spying mission.
It said Friday that the huge civilian weather balloon, used for metrological research, was blown off course by powerful westerly winds.
China insists that the balloon which has flown across sensitive and strategic locations, including a missile launch site, entered the U.S. by accident.
The Pentagon is tracking the movement of the balloon, but is still not decided on a shoot-down-plan.
There are worries that the debris from the craft, if it is brought down, might hurt people within residential areas.
Thursday, United States defense personnel said they had “very high confidence” that the large white balloon which belongs to China is on surveillance trip.
“The current flight path does carry it over a number of sensitive sites,” an official said in a Defense Department briefing.
Meanwhile, the proposed trip of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinking, to China has been placed on hold.
Blinking disclosed while addressing the media that the balloon incident has created serious doubts capable of undermining US-China relations.
Satellite images are indicating at this time that the balloon may have originated from somewhere in Central China.