China’s Foreign Ministry has explained that the balloon is used for “research purposes” and that it deviated from its planned course due to winds.
Chinese authorities have revealed that the balloon recently spotted in US airspace did originate in China, but that it is not some sort of surveillance craft as the US military initially suspected.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson explained in a statement that the object in question is merely a “civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes.”
“Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course,” the statement said. “The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure.”
On Thursday, the US military detected what appeared to be a high altitude surveillance balloon moving through United States airspace, high above the commercial air traffic.
One US defense official told media the United States has “very high confidence” that the balloon arrived from China and was flying over sensitive sites in the US to collect information.
The Pentagon, however, ultimately decided against shooting down the balloon due to concerns about possibly hurting people on the ground.
Blinken postpones Beijing trip over Chinese balloon in sky until ‘Conditions Are Right’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reportedly suspended his trip to China this weekend, citing the detection of a Chinese high-altitude balloon over the continental United States.
A senior US official told the press that while the foreign minister did not want to blow the situation out of proportion by canceling the trip entirely, he doesn’t want to the balloon issue to dominate his meetings with Chinese leaders, either. The official gave no alternate date for the visit, just saying it would happen when “conditions are right.”
The Chinese side has made no response to the news as of yet.
Blinken was due to visit China on Sunday and Monday and meet with several top Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, Foreign Minister Qin Gang, and Wang Yi, the Communist Party’s top foreign policy official.
The spherical, white high-altitude balloon was first reported over the US state of Montana on Thursday, the location of many of the US’ nuclear missile silos, prompting some precautions to be taken by the US Air Force. However, the Pentagon has said the balloon is flying so high up that it “does not present a military or physical threat” and decided against shooting it down.
However, the US has also said it believes the balloon to be performing reconnaissance.
They did not explain what kind of information the balloon could be gathering that could not be more efficiently and discreetly collected by orbiting spy satellites.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday confirmed the balloon was indeed Chinese, but said it was civilian, not military.
“It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,” a ministry official told reporters. “Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course.”
“The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure. The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure,” the ministry added, referring to the legal principle that frees both parties on a contract from their obligations when so-called “acts of God” beyond their control interfere with its fulfillment.
The Pentagon said the balloon was floating at about 60,000 feet, or 11.3 miles above the surface, and did not contain radioactive material.
Reporting: Fantine Gardinier, Sputnik News Agency
This is clearly brainless propaganda. A BS non-story.
Come on DT. You’re better than this.
A High-altitude Chinese aircraft capable of dropping a nuclear weapon, hovering over the USA at between 85-120 thousand feet (far higher than American F18’s can fly) is a non-story?!
Bruh 🤦🏼
With all due respect, the CCP isn’t very likely to start WW3 with a balloon carrying a nuclear bomb, obviously that would just be silly.
Breaking propaganda:
F22 heroically shoots down CCP spy balloon.
In other words the old ‘Malabar Front’ routine once again:
https://shareverything.com/2016/06/18/glorious-news-from-the-malabar-front-big-brother-winks-at-us-and-laughs/
Hmm 🤔
This is actually an interesting take.
Are you suggesting the balloon has nothing to do with China but was possibly floated by the US military itself?
It DID seem to swallow up the ENTIRE news cycle all weekend, and distract from that second Pfizer sting where that scientist admitted they were concerned with the vaccine’s effect on menstrual cycles…
Nothing to see here:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/02/pentagon-balloons-surveillance-midwest
China is testing Bidens resolve as apparently, they are close to invading Taiwan.
The structure underneath the balloon looks like a phased-array radar that could be used to map ground topography, including structures (buildings).
Great way to stop that Blinkin American fellah from wasting your time… 😺😂😺👍
The size of the actual balloon’s envelope is difficult to measure at that altitude.
As is the attached ‘satellite’…
BUT- this is a perfect, low-cost method to hoist a nuclear device aloft to higher altitudes, and then explode the same at altitude, causing a massive EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) that will fry every unshielded circuit on North Amerika.
That is when the REAL problems begin on the ground.
In 6 months, the ELE (Extinction Life Event) from that EMP will be fully recognised.
After all, the CIA’s ‘Deagel Report’ shows an 80% drop in the U.S. population, with a similar figure for the U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This modus was literally ‘set in stone’ at the Georgia Guidestones prior to the PTB dynamiting the same to hide their plan that was once in plain sight!
The other useful, economic and passive methodology of LTA (‘Lighter Than Air) deliveries if attaching an actual nuke to the larger envelopes.
Combining the lifting ratio to the payload, it is possible to float a 50KT weapon disguised as a mapping satellite over North Amerika, and when such drifts over a TOO (Target of Opportunity), the weapon can be released remotely. The blast area would be massive, so ‘precision bombing’ isn’t needed!
When we see a ‘satellite’ with two or more balloons attached to the same, that will be cause for concern.
The Japanese used this method in World War Two. First, to release bubonic plague-infected fleas on the general populations in the U.S. (failed), and later with actual bombs attached which killed a mother and wounded her family members when on a picnic.
The technology is very old, but with weapons of mass destruction (EMP-Generating Detonations) and actual high-yield nukes, the limited dangers become readily apparent.
Want to shoot the balloon(s) down? Perhaps the payload has a barometric detonator that will pop-off when passing under 10,000 feet…
Really puts the frontal lobes to work…!
Everything that Chong does is very well thought-out.