Months after instigating tensions with accusations of Chinese spying, Washington is now claiming that a Chinese balloon that traversed U.S. airspace collected no data during its journey.
The Pentagon made the claim in response to the Chinese “spy” balloon incident that raised diplomatic temperatures between the U.S. and China earlier this year.
Between Jan 28 and Feb 4, 2023, a high-altitude balloon belonging to China was observed traversing North American airspace, specifically Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguous United States.
The U.S. had alleged the balloon was spying on military sites, with photos taken by a passing U-2 spy plane purportedly supporting these accusations.
Eventually, on Feb 4, the United States Air Force took action by shooting down the balloon over U.S. territorial waters near the South Carolina coast.
The wreckage was subsequently recovered and sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for thorough analysis.
President Biden later revealed that the balloon was equipped with spy equipment equivalent to two railroad cars, and the U.S. government clarified that it possessed a propeller for enhanced maneuverability.
During a Thursday press briefing, Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said that the airborne object, initially referred to as a “PRC high altitude balloon,” was equipped with American-made commercial technology but did not gather any information while it was hovering over the U.S.
He said, “It has been our assessment now that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States or overflying the United States, and as we said at the time, we took steps to mitigate the potential collection efforts of that balloon.”
Gen. Ryder also acknowledged that similar commercial technologies have been utilized in past instances involving drones and other types of equipment, without explicitly referring to China.
The balloon reportedly housed U.S. commercial equipment, some of which could be bought online, and was interspersed with specialized Chinese devices designed to record and transmit images, videos, and other data.
Addressing the same issue, Mao Ning, the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated, “the unmanned Chinese civilian airship drifting over the U.S. was an entirely unexpected accident caused by force majeure.”
“The US calling it a ‘spy balloon’ is nothing but a smear against China,” Ning continued.
She insisted the balloon was civilian-owned and used for scientific purposes, and that its journey across the U.S. was accidental.
Recent sentiments from the Biden administration indicate a desire to move past this controversy.
Biden earlier referred to the incident as “more embarrassing than it was intentional” for China, and Blinken suggested “that chapter should be closed” provided no repetition occurs.
