Days after the United States shot down four unidentified objects, often touted as "UFOs" -- any unexplained moving object observed in the sky, especially one assumed by some observers to be of extraterrestrial origin-- Pentagon refuted the claims and said details would be made public once the investigations were over.
The Pentagon clarified that the investigators did not find any evidence of aliens or any species belonging to "other universes". Addressing a regular press conference on Monday, US Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre humorously said she wanted to reassure the US population before making reference to the movie ET.
"We did, however, assess that their altitudes were considerably lower than the Chinese high-altitude balloon and did pose a threat to civilian commercial air traffic. And while we have no specific reason to suspect that they were conducting surveillance of any kind, we couldn’t rule that out," she said.
Read: Did China send US-like 'spy balloons' on India too? DETAILS
What US found?
Notably, the clarifications came as the United States shot down four flying objects, all having different shapes and sizes-- within two weeks after it discovered Chinese "spy balloons". This prompted several news outlets, as well as social media platforms, to link the recent appearance of unidentified objects to UFOs and aliens.
Meanwhile, while answering the press questions about the details of the debris found following the shootout of "spy balloons", she said the investigators found some "priority sensor" and "electronics pieces". "Large sections of the structure" were also recovered on Monday off the coast of South Carolina," BBC quoted military officials as saying. "About 30-40ft of the balloon's antenna are among the items found," according to CBS.
Chinese 'spy balloons' row
It is worth mentioning an alleged Chinese "spy balloon" was detected hovering over the skies of the United States in the first week of this month, resulting in soaring tension between the two nations. 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 accuses the US of sending similar balloons to Beijing
Earlier on Monday, China now 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.
While addressing a regular press conference on Monday, 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.
