China says balloon sighted in Latin America has “civil purposes”

The balloon sighted in Latin America comes from China and is for civilian purposes, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said on Monday.

The balloon has limited maneuverability, Mao told a regular news briefing.

Colombia’s air force said in a brief statement on Saturday that its air defense system had detected a possible balloon on Friday morning.

Beijing confirmed this Monday that the balloon detected flying over Latin America is Chinese, while the United States tried to recover the remains of a similar device shot down over the weekend in its airspace.

China has expressed outrage over the US decision to shoot down a first probe detected over its territory, which Beijing insists was a weather device that veered off course.

After the detection of the first balloon that flew over the United States, Washington reacted by canceling a trip to China by the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained on Monday that the object detected over the weekend over Latin America is for civilian purposes and is used for a flight test.

Due “weather forces and its limited maneuverability, the airship seriously deviated from its scheduled route” and I go in “accidentally into the airspace of Latin America and the Caribbean”, said a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, at a press conference.

“China is a responsible country and has always strictly abided by international law”, he added.

“We have communicated with the relevant parties and are handling [la cuestión] properly, and we will not cause any threat to any country”, he continued.

China’s statement came three days after the Pentagon alerted that a second suspected spy balloon from China had been detected flying over Latin America.

For its part, the Colombian air force indicated that “an object” with “balloon-like features“had been detected and monitored”until it left the airspace”.

The US Department of Defense did not provide details about the location of the device identified in Latin America, nor where it was going.

bilateral tensions

US aviation shot down the first Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina, in the southeast of the country, with a missile on Saturday.

Pentagon officials described it as a “high altitude surveillance balloon” and the United States affirmed that it took the necessary steps to prevent it from collecting sensitive information.

Beijing, which claims the device is for civilian purposes, accused the United States of having “overacted” through the use of force and said that “it reserves the right” to retaliate.

In the United States, the Republican opposition criticized President Joe Biden for not having had a firmer and faster response.

The leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, defended the government’s action, as he stated that it allows “maximizing the collection of information.”

Schumer reported that the Senate will receive a classified report on February 15.

Former US Chief of Staff Mike Mullen, asked on ABC if people in the Chinese military might have wanted to disrupt Blinken’s visit, said: “Clearly, I think that’s the case.”

He also discredited the version that the balloon deviated from its course.

“It was not an accident, it was deliberate.“, he claimed.

Blinken’s visit would have been the first by a US diplomatic chief to China since Mike Pompeo’s tour in 2018.

Change of tone

Since the cancellation of Blinken’s trip and the downing of the first aircraft, China has abandoned the conciliatory tone it had initially adopted to express itself with greater indignation.

On the streets of Beijing, Li Yize, 23, told AFP he thinks that Washington’s decision to shoot down the balloon “It is a way for the United States to show its military might.”

An old man who identified himself as Xu stated that “China is very magnanimous”.

“US military reconnaissance planes often pass over Chinese coasts”, he indicated.

“But China is tolerant, does not attach great importance“, said.

Source: Reuters