The surveillance balloon has been flying at a higher altitude than commercial air traffic over several sensitive locations in recent days, and US authorities suspect it is a Chinese surveillance balloon, the BBC reports. One of the places over which the balloon was observed is Montana, where, among other things, is there is a military base with nuclear weapons.
The US Navy has decided not to shoot it down at the risk of harming people on the ground, but is working to ensure that it cannot collect sensitive information.
China’s foreign ministry says China has no intention of violating other countries’ airspace, and is now investigating what happened.