Thu 09 February 2023:
China claimed on Thursday that American claims that a Chinese balloon that crashed was a part of a comprehensive surveillance program amounted to “information warfare against China.”
The Pentagon stated on Wednesday that the balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday was a part of a program that China has been doing for “several years” that involved multiple of these airships.
At Thursday’s daily briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning repeated China’s insistence that the large unmanned balloon was a civilian meteorological airship that had accidentally blown off course and that the U.S. had “overreacted” by shooting it down.
“It is irresponsible,” Mao said at a daily briefing. The latest accusations “may be part of the U.S. side’s information warfare against China.”
US alleges Chinese spy balloon flew over sensitive military sites#ChinaBalloon pic.twitter.com/4KREkjnKc9
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) February 3, 2023
U.S. officials have dismissed China’s claims and agents from the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are cataloguing debris recovered from the ocean and transporting it for further processing.
When similar balloons passed over U.S. territory on four occasions during the Trump and Biden administrations, the U.S. did not immediately identify them as Chinese surveillance balloons, said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary.
But he said “subsequent intelligence analysis” allowed the U.S. to confirm they were part of a Chinese spying effort and learn “a lot more” about the program.
“I can assure you this was not for civilian purposes … We are 100% clear about that,” Ryder said.
In classified sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, senior administration officials briefed members of Congress on the Chinese balloon spying program.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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