Officials, as per breaking news Twitter handle RAW Alerts, believe that there could be a third Chinese spy balloon outside the United States. This comes as the US military shot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean.
Several other social media handles, including the BNODesk and READY Alerts, reported about the possibility of a third surveillance balloon.
🚨#BREAKING: U.S. officials believe there could be a 3rd Chinese spy balloon which is outside the U.S pic.twitter.com/XI8qQ62Pvr
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) February 4, 2023
The US has shot down a giant Chinese balloon that it says has been spying on key military sites across America. US Secretary of Defense Lyold Austin said the balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean Saturday was being used by the Chinese government “to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.”
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden gave the Pentagon authorization to take down the surveillance balloon “as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path,” Austin said in a statement.
The US military used fighter jets from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to take down the suspected Chinese spy balloon at 2.39 pm Eastern time on Saturday. The military used F-22 aircraft and fired an AIM-9X missile. A single missile was used, the officials said.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has canceled his upcoming historic trip to Beijing as a sign of protest against the intrusion of US airspace by China.
China said Friday that a high-altitude balloon flying over the United States is for civilian meteorological and other scientific purposes and expressed regret that it entered into US airspace.
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According to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry, the airship was “affected by the westerly wind” and its ability to control its direction “is limited.” The statement added that the balloon “seriously deviated from the scheduled route” and expressed regret that “the airship strayed into the United States due to force majeure.”
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On Saturday, President Joe Biden released a short statement saying that “we will take care of it.” The White House and the Pentagon said that the balloon does not present a military or a physical threat to people.
