The US military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, initially spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday, a report by NBC News says.
Defence officials said the Pentagon considered shooting down the high-altitude balloon earlier this week, but decided against it after briefing the US president, Joe Biden.
According to reports, the decision was made in consultation with senior leaders, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Biden also spoke about the balloon for the first time on Saturday, when he told a group of reporters, “We’re going to take care of it.”
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop in parts of North Carolina and South Carolina and closed additional airspace on Saturday afternoon.
The departures were paused “to support the Department of Defense in a national security effort,” a representative told reporters.
According to a Pentagon official, Biden concluded that the US would not shoot down the balloon because debris from it could cause damage on the ground. He added that any information the balloon collects would have “limited additive value” compared with China’s spy satellites.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that the balloon was a civilian weather airship intended for scientific research that was blown. It described the incident as a result of a “force majeure” for which it was not responsible, a claim dismissed by US officials.
A senior Pentagon official told reporters Thursday night that the object was clearly a surveillance balloon that was flying over sensitive sites to collect intelligence.
“We have noted the PRC statement of regret, but the presence of this balloon in our airspace is a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law and is unacceptable that this has occurred,” the official said.
The presence of the balloon prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to indefinitely postpone what was to be an already tense trip to China on Friday.
The visit was intended to reinforce communication and cooperation between the two countries as tensions have deepened over China’s increasing military aggression toward Taiwan and closer alliances with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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