The United States of America, USA has reported an un-manned white mysterious balloon, in its airspace. The strange object which was later identified as a Chinese spy-balloon was first spotted floating over Montana on Thursday, suspected to be a spying device from America’s rival country, China.
This has raised alarms and worries for the world’s country with the largest economy, America. US Security forces and special forces have swung into action in response to this strange event.
Recall, this event occurred days before the planned visit of US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken to China.
Following the discovery of what Washington referred to as an “obvious infringement” of US sovereignty by a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the country, Antony Blinken postponed his trip to China that was scheduled to begin on Friday (Feb. 3).
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Without a question, a tremendous amount of diplomatic work on both sides would have gone into making this visit a reality. At the G20 conference last year, China President, Xi Jinping admitted that China and the United States must do more to ensure that their rivalry does not devolve into violence.
Military Advised US President against shooting down the ballon
However, the Pentagon said it is keeping an eye on the Chinese surveillance balloon that has been detected flying over the United States.
“The balloon is currently travelling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.” the Pentagon said.
This might be the reason why the US president, Joe Biden has not ordered a military action to shoot down the balloon off the airspace.
But according to reports, military authorities persuaded President Joe Biden not to blast the balloon out of the sky for fear of debris posing a safety risk.
The Pentagon said on Thursday that it was tracking a Chinese surveillance balloon travelling across the United States. Although not as intriguing as a buttonhole camera or arsenic placed in a tooth, spy balloons have been used for centuries and, according to experts.
Suspected Activity of the Chinese Spy Balloon
The use of balloons as espionage platforms dates back to the Cold War’s early days. Since then, the US has employed hundreds of them to spy on its opponents, according to Peter Layton, a Griffith Asia Institute scholar and retired Royal Australian Air Force officer.
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Layton explained the advantage of balloons over other means, “Balloon payloads can now weigh less and so the balloons can be smaller, cheaper and easier to launch” than satellites.”
“An advantage of balloons is that they can be steered using onboard computers to take advantage of winds and they can go up and down to a limited degree. This means they can loiter to a limited extent.
“A satellite can’t loiter and so many are needed to criss-cross an area of interest to maintain surveillance,” he said.
China claims the “Spy Balloon” is for research purposes
China claimed the balloon is for research and reached the United States after diverting from its scheduled path.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said on Friday, that the alleged “spy-balloon” missed its way into the US airspace owing to unforeseen circumstances.
The spokesperson said: “It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure.”
“The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure,” he added.