A new ” object flying was shot down by the American air force on Friday, February 10. Less than a week after shooting a Chinese balloon used for espionage, according to Washington, Joe Biden made a quick decision.
With our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin
This time, the American president did not wait for the object to cross the whole country. Barely spotted Thursday, February 9 in the evening, he was promptly shot down by a combat plane Friday at midday, near the coast of Alaska.
It must be said that since Saturday February 4, the Republicans, in particular the elected officials of this State located in the North-West of the country, are unleashed to denounce the weakness of the administration. The White House defends a precautionary measure. The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a potential hazard to civil aviation. It was shot down over US territorial waters, which are currently frozen. This will allow you to quickly find the debris for analysis.
But already, the White House is showing great caution. First, she doesn’t call it a balloon. Then, the spokesperson for strategic issues specifies that this object, whose origin and nature therefore remain to be determined, is much smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down over the Atlantic on Saturday ; the size of a small car against three buses for the so-called spy balloon.
An abundance of precautions which can also no doubt be explained by the desire not to further strain Sino-American relations, already badly damaged by the general context and the first case.