Chinese spy balloons row: Nearly three months after the first Chinese spy balloon was detected over the skies of the United States, senior US officials claimed it had gathered intelligence from several sensitive American military sites.
According to a report by NBC News, China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites. Also, the three senior US officials confirmed that the balloon transmitted the information it collected back to Beijing in real-time.
The passing of information could be more if the Biden administration did not shoot down the alleged spy balloons, as per the officials.
Further, it said that the data collected was mostly from electronic signals, "which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images".
Chinese spy balloon row
It is worth mentioning an alleged Chinese "spy balloon" was detected hovering over the skies of the United States on January 28 this year, resulting in soaring tension between the two nations. This also prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel his personal trip to Beijing.
Although Beijing accepted that the giant balloon was taken off from its territory but refuted the claims of sending spy equipment to the US. Instead, it termed the helium balloon a "weather data collector" and added it was floated towards the US by the flow of wind.
China too blamed US for breaching its airspace
Later, Beijing claimed Washington of breaching its airspace at least ten times in the past 13 months. According to China, the US high-altitude balloons illegally flew over Chinese airspace on more than 10 occasions without the approval of the relevant Chinese authorities.
The latest remarks from China came a day after the US fighter jet shot down an “unidentified object” over Lake Huron.
"The US has the world's largest surveillance network"
While addressing a press conference over the matter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the actions taken by the US reflected its own behaviour and added the Pentagon should look into its own actions instead of slandering, smearing and provoking confrontation. Although he did not comment on the latest Lake Huron incident but termed it an overreaction by US officials.
Furthermore, he claimed that Washington has the world's largest surveillance network and added the US has abused its technological advances against several countries.
Also Read: Did China send US-like 'spy balloons' on India too? DETAILS
