The United States announced Thursday that it detected a suspected Chinese spy balloon, which is currently flying over its territory at high altitude and poses “no military or physical risk” to anyone on the surface. Canada has also announced that it is working with the US to protect the country from potential intelligence threats following detection of the balloon’s movements, which are actively tracked by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The US has attributed the balloon to China, while Beijing has responded that “until the facts are clarified, speculation and hype will not help to properly resolve this issue”.

The device is the size of “three buses,” as reported by CNN, and, according to the Pentagon, has been flying over continental U.S. airspace for the past few days. The device was spotted Wednesday over Billings, Montana, and would have flown over the Aleutian Islands (Alaska) through Canada and into Montana. Montana is home to subway Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile silos, a potential target for Chinese espionage. These are the keys to what is known about the umpteenth episode of tension between China and the U.S. so far.

A senior defense official said Thursday that the balloon detected in the U.S. sky “has limited value” with respect to intelligence gathering “beyond what the People’s Republic of China can do by other means,” NBC News reported.

Montana USA.
China Surveilance Ballon. pic.twitter.com/LLSLpD78WF

— Budisantoso (@Budisan49625819) February 3, 2023

Specifically, the U.S. Defense Department believes that Chinese spy satellites in low-Earth orbit are capable of providing similar or better intelligence, limiting the value of what Beijing can obtain from the high-altitude balloon. Still, the U.S. Executive has detailed that instances of this activity have been observed in recent years, even before the current administration.

U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered not to shoot down the balloon after being advised by senior U.S. defense officials that it did not pose a military threat, stressing that the administration acted “immediately” to protect against intelligence gathering, according to CNN.

Both the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and the leader of the Northern Command, General Glen VanHerck, bluntly recommended “not to take any kinetic action” because of the risk it could pose to people on the surface, due to the possible fall of debris from the balloon.

“The balloon is from China and is civilian in nature, used for scientific research, such as meteorological matters,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, who noted that “after being affected by westerly winds and faced with limited controllability, it deviated severely from its scheduled route.”

Spy balloons were first used in the 1860s, during the American Civil War, when troops would go up in hot air balloons, binoculars in hand, to try to gather information that they sent back with signals via Morse code.

UPDATE: On Friday the Pentagon detected a second Chinese balloon flying over Latin America.

The U.S. Department of Defense said Friday night that it has detected a second Chinese spy balloon that would be flying over Latin America.

“We are seeing reports of a balloon in transit over Latin America. We are now assessing that it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Pentagon spokesman General Patrick Ryder told CNN.

U.S. shoots down Chinese spy balloon flying over its territory.

The U.S. Armed Forces have shot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon once it was already over Atlantic Ocean waters and after crossing the entire country from coast to coast, according to U.S. officials.

CNN has reported the downing citing anonymous official sources and has explained that President Joe Biden has personally given his approval for the attack on the device.

-Thailand News (TN)