Balloon over Latin America belongs to China, says Beijing

A balloon seen in the sky over Latin America belongs to China and was used for flight tests, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday in response to the request. CNN .

This is the first time that Beijing admits that the balloon sighted over two Latin American countries belongs to China.

The balloon “seriously deviated” from its planned course and entered the skies of Latin America and the Caribbean “by mistake” due to weather conditions and limited ability to control the vessel, said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Nations. China, Mao Ning, at a press conference on Monday.

This is the second Chinese balloon that Beijing says has veered off course due to weather, after the US military on Saturday shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon that had been flying over the US for days.

“China is a responsible country. We always strictly respect international law. We have informed all relevant parties and properly handled the situation, which does not pose any threat to any country,” Mao said, adding that all parties “expressed their understanding.”

Colombia’s Air Force and Costa Rica’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that a white observation balloon, similar to the one seen over the US, was tracked in their airspace last week, although they did not attribute the object to China.

This is the second Chinese balloon Beijing says has veered off course due to weather after the US military on Saturday shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon that had been flying over the continental US for days.

“China is a responsible country. We always strictly respect international law. We have informed all relevant parties and properly handled the situation, which does not pose any threat to any country,” Mao said, adding that all parties “expressed their understanding.”

Colombia’s Air Force and Costa Rica’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that a white observation balloon similar to the one seen over the US was tracked in their airspace last week, although they did not attribute the craft to China.

suspicious balloon

A similar high-altitude Chinese balloon was floating over the US over the past week.

It was first spotted by the North American Aerospace Defense Command on January 28 as it drifted eastward over Alaska. The balloon then traveled across Canada to the US, where it spent time wandering around sensitive missile sites in Montana, officials said.

US officials say the balloon was being used for surveillance and the Pentagon tracked the balloon for several days as it flew over the northern United States before US military fighter jets brought it down into the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday.

China has expressed outrage that the aircraft was shot down and has repeated its earlier claims that the balloon was for civilian use and that it fell into US airspace by mistake.

Several US Navy and Coast Guard ships were in the area working to recover the wreckage. The Department of Defense launched “a collaborative effort” with the FBI and “counterintelligence officials” to help “categorize and evaluate the platform itself,” a senior military official said.