Trump, US authorities bicker over balloon
President Joe Biden said the other day that he ordered the US army to shoot down the big ballon belonging to the Chinese.
Former President Donald Trump has described reports that Chinese balloons infiltrated US airspace during his administration as “fake disinformation.”
Trump who appears ready to take another shot at the US presidency has been battling to take the front seat among aspirants in the Republican Party who want Biden’s job.
The US Department of Defense had made the revelation of balloon intrusions during the Trump era after shooting down a Chinese aircraft off the coast of South Carolina Saturday.
China’s eye in the sky, subject of a diplomatic row between Beijing and WashingtonThe report said that three similar balloons “briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.
Trump quickly fired back, dismissing claims by the Defense Department and calling its officials names.
“The Chinese Balloon situation is a disgrace, just like the Afghanistan horror show and everything else surrounding the grossly incompetent Biden Administration,” Trump responded on Truth Social.
“They are only good at cheating in elections, and disinformation – and now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the ‘heat’ off the slow-moving Biden fools.”
“China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!”
Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said that this kind of unmanned balloon activity was “observed previously over the past several years” adding that the U.S. acted swiftly to protect sensitive data.
Biden had acknowledged publicly that he ordered the army to take down the balloon believed to have been on a surveillance mission.
Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities have protested the decision by the US to gun down what it said is a civilian balloon used for gathering data about weather.
China had earlier claimed that the balloon first noticed around Alaska before making its way to Billings, Montana, strayed into US territory by accident because of strong westerly winds.
The balloon is believed to have originated from China’s Central region