The information is confirmed. Chinese diplomacy acknowledged on Monday, February 6, that the balloon spotted over Latin America and designated by the United States as a “surveillance” device did indeed come from China, but that it was “of a civil”. The US military shot down on Saturday, on the orders of President Joe Biden, a first Chinese balloon which had been flying over the United States for several days, provoking strong criticism from Beijing. The day before, the US Department of Defense said it had spotted a second “Chinese surveillance balloon” over Latin America. Colombia also announced this weekend that a balloon had flown over its territory.
“After verification, it turns out that this unmanned balloon is from China. It is civilian in nature and used for flight testing,” said Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Under the effect of the climate and due to its limitations in terms of maneuverability, this balloon seriously deviated from its planned trajectory and became lost in the sky over Latin America and the Caribbean”, a- she pointed out during a regular press briefing. She did not specify which entity the craft belonged to. According to Aurel Sari, associate professor of public international law at the University of Exeter, this language is “is the basis of a narrative that accuses the United States of using force against a civilian airship in distress”, writes- it on Twitter.
The Colombian Air Force said the balloon was sighted on Friday morning and monitored until it left national airspace. The military authorities of the South American country assured that the machine had at no time “threatened” the security and defense of the country. No details of its whereabouts or trajectory were given. China is Latin America’s second largest trading partner, just behind the United States, according to a 2022 report by the Council on Foreign Relations. According to the report, twenty Latin American countries have signed on to be part of the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project led by Beijing.
Diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Washington
On Saturday, the American army shot down, off the coast of South Carolina, in the south-east of the country, a first Chinese balloon considered by the Pentagon as a spy balloon, intended to collect sensitive information. In the Financial TimeCraig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said China had “clearly violated” international law because it was a signatory to the Chicago Convention treaty that created the Organization international civil aviation under the aegis of the United Nations.
Trajectory of the Chinese “spy” balloon on the territory of the United States
© / The Express
The incident sparked a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Washington with the last-minute cancellation of a visit to China by US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken. Beijing, which maintains that it was a civilian aircraft, accused the United States of having “overreacted” by using force, and said it “reserves the right” to respond. “US actions have seriously affected and damaged both parties’ efforts and progress to stabilize China-US relations since the Bali meeting” between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in November, the vice minister said in a statement on Monday. of Foreign Affairs, Xie Feng.
Joe Biden said he gave the order on Wednesday to shoot down the balloon “as soon as possible”, but that the Pentagon wanted to wait until it was over the sea to do so, in order to avoid any damage to the ground during the fallout. debris. The Republican camp, reacting to the case, did not hold back, eager to label the president weak ahead of his planned re-election bid. “Downing the balloon over the water was not only the safest option, but also the one that maximized the information gathered” by recovering the remains of the craft, the leader of the Democrats told Sunday. Senate, Chuck Schumer. This will “analyze the technology used by the Chinese army”.
Recovery operations were launched on Saturday, the plume of debris extending for about 11 kilometers, in relatively shallow water. The balloon entered American airspace for the first time on January 28, north of the Aleutian Islands (Alaska). He then entered Canadian airspace on January 30, then returned to the American side, at Idaho in the northwestern United States, on Tuesday January 31. The general public only learned of its existence on Thursday, when it was over Montana. He then continued his journey eastward until he reached the Atlantic coast.