China calls downing ‘spy balloon’ by US ‘exaggerated’: images show how it crashes over Atlantic Ocean | Abroad

The balloon’s downing was seen on live footage and confirmed by US President Joe Biden. Earlier Saturday evening, three more east coast airports were closed and civil aviation suspended in an area several hundred miles above the Atlantic Ocean and the coast of South Carolina. That ban has since been lifted.

A photographer from Reuters news agency in Myrtle Beach – where one of the three closed airports is located – was able to see the balloon flying overhead, with two fighter jets flying next to it.

Images show how the balloon appears to be hit and begins to fall. The US Department of Defense has since confirmed “that a US fighter jet downed a Chinese spy balloon over the water off the coast of South Carolina”. “The balloon was used by China in an effort to see what is happening at strategic sites in the US heartland,” a statement said.

LOOK. Spectators cheer as spy balloon plummets.

President Biden would have already given his blessing for the operation on Wednesday, provided that it could be carried out without endangering lives.

China’s foreign ministry on Sunday expressed its “severe disapproval” and appealed the shooting down of the balloon spy balloon. China reserves the right to respond in an appropriate manner, a statement said. In the statement, the ministry calls the use of force by the United States “an obvious overreaction”, which is contrary to international practices. For example, the US did not let China know in advance that the balloon would be shot down once that decision had been made.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed the US decision on Saturday “to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon that flew at a high altitude and violated US and Canadian airspace and international law”.

“Canada supports this action. Together, and with the (binational) North American Aerospace Department (NORAD) Command, we continue to defend and protect ourselves,” Trudeau said on Twitter.

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said in a press release that she and the Prime Minister were briefed on Saturday about the operation.

Initially, it was decided not to shoot down the balloon. The Pentagon, at the request of President Joe Biden, investigated the option, but the risk of falling debris for residents of the US mainland below was too great. After all, the balloon was the size of three buses and had a considerable weight.

The balloon first flew over Alaska and Canada, then over Montana, Kansas and Missouri. Today it was spotted over the eastern state of North Carolina. From there it drifted towards the Atlantic Ocean.

“The current mindset is to wait for the balloon to fly over the Atlantic Ocean, to bring it down and fish it out. This way he can be studied and it can be checked what technology he has on board,” ABC news said earlier today, citing “a senior American official”.

However, that scenario would not be easy to implement. “They have only twelve nautical miles (just over 14 miles, ed.) to do it, because after that the balloon would be over international waters. And the last thing the United States wants is to provoke an international conflict,” ABC News’ White House correspondent said.

LOOK. Explained: Why Great Powers Use Spy Balloons

A substantial portion of local airspace may need to be closed for the operation, the official said. And that also happened tonight: the American aviation agency FAA closed three airports on the East Coast “in support of a Defense Department action for national security”.

The FAA also said it had temporarily suspended civil aviation in a 160-square-mile area over the Atlantic Ocean and on the coast of South Carolina.

President Biden did not show his cards. He replied to a question about the possible shooting down of the balloon only that the US would “handle” the matter.

Soon, however, footage surfaced of witnesses showing how the balloon was shot out of the sky. According to a senior US military source, multiple fighter jets were involved in the mission, but only one missile from an F-22 was needed to get the job done. It was an AIM-9X or Sidewinder. It’s made to fire from one plane and shoot down another plane. The balloon was finally brought down six nautical miles (about 11 kilometers) off the coast.

Meanwhile, Biden has confirmed that the balloon has been deflated. The US military now wants to try as quickly as possible to fish the debris out of the water for research. It is not yet clear how long that operation will take, but it could be fast and not take weeks or months.

Among others, the Republican governor of the state of Montana – where the balloon flew over – quickly called for the device to be taken off the air, as did former president Donald Trump. “If it were up to us, this thing would have blown out of the sky the moment it floated into our sovereign airspace,” Governor Greg Gianforte told Fox News. “It’s obviously been flying around here for a while. It’s not going that fast.”

Beijing has already admitted that the balloon does indeed come from China, but says it is a harmless weather balloon and not a spy device. He would have accidentally drifted to the US. In the meantime, however, the Pentagon has also reported a second Chinese balloon over South America.

Is the Chinese spy balloon over the US being remotely piloted? Is there one hovering over our country? And why hasn’t he been shot yet? Your questions answered (+)