‘We know that it’s a surveillance balloon’: Pentagon dismisses China’s explanation
Mike Brest
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The Department of Defense is confident the apparent Chinese spy balloon is being used for surveillance, swatting away Beijing’s insistence that it’s a civilian aircraft.
Department of Defense spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Friday that the Pentagon is aware of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ explanation for the rogue surveillance balloon, but dismissed it.
“So first of all, we are aware of the PRC statement. However, the fact is we know that it’s a surveillance balloon. And I’m not going to be able to be more specific than that. We do know that the balloon has violated U.S. airspace and international law, which is unacceptable. And so we’ve conveyed this directly to the PRC at multiple levels,” he told reporters, a day after the department disclosed it was aware of the incursion.
SUSPECTED CHINESE SPY BALLOON DISCOVERED FLOATING OVER NORTHERN US
A senior defense official told reporters on Thursday that the balloon, which Ryder compared to a blimp with a “payload” underneath it in the way a blimp would have a basket for passengers, entered U.S. airspace “a couple days ago.”
Ryder said the balloon, which is about 60,000 feet over the ground, “has the ability to maneuver” itself and has “changed its course,” seemingly contradicting the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s claim that it simply deviated off course. The balloon is moving east across the continental United States and is now “currently over the center,” of the country, he added, though he wouldn’t provide more specificity.
“The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed Friday. “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.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin convened a meeting of senior military and defense leaders on Wednesday to discuss the Chinese incursion. They urged Biden “not to take kinetic action” due to the safety risk of the people on the ground, the senior defense official explained, adding that it’s their assessment that “this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective.”
Ryder maintained that the balloon does not pose a threat to U.S. civilians.
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“We assess that it does not pose a risk to people on the ground as it currently is traversing the continental United States, and so out of an abundance of caution, cognizant of the potential impact to civilians on the ground, from a debris field right now we’re gonna continue to monitor and review options,” the Pentagon spokesman added.
He said the department expects the balloon will be over the U.S. “for a few days.”