WASHINGTON: The United States will work to maintain lines of communication with China despite a rift over an alleged surveillance balloon, a top US diplomat said on Wednesday (Feb 15). The United States and China have “never stopped communicating and trying to understand each other” despite the cancellation this monthContinue Reading
WASHINGTON: The White House sought on Tuesday (Feb 14) to take the air out of an escalating diplomatic crisis with Beijing, saying that preliminary evidence suggests three unidentified aerial objects shot down by US jets were not involved in a broader Chinese spy balloon programme. The United States has beenContinue Reading
UNCERTAIN ORIGINS, OBJECTIVES The United States says the large Chinese balloon was obviously a spy craft and that the debris is currently being plucked from the Atlantic ocean for analysis. The other three unidentified objects – shot down on Friday over Alaska, Saturday over the Yukon in Canada, and Sunday overContinue Reading
The six companies include Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology; China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute; and Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology. The other three are Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group; Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology; along with Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group. An employee atContinue Reading
“The (People’s Republic of China’s) use of high-altitude balloons violates our sovereignty and threatens US national security,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez in a statement on Friday. “Today’s action makes clear that entities that seek to harm US national security and sovereignty will beContinue Reading
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE Kirby said there was no intention to send the pieces back. “I know of no such intention or plans to return it,” he said. VanHerck said the balloon debris would be carefully studied. “I don’t know where the debris is going to go for a final analysis, but IContinue Reading
WASHINGTON: A senior US general responsible for bringing down a Chinese spy balloon said on Monday (Feb 6) the military had not detected previous spy balloons before the one that appeared on Jan 28 over the United States and called it an “awareness gap”. The Pentagon said over the weekendContinue Reading
SWEEP UNDER RUG Collin Koh, a security fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, predicted China would continue to respond vigorously to US military reconnaissance patrols but stop short of confrontation. Even in calmer moments, Chinese forces actively shadow US military patrols, particularly at sea, amid tensions overContinue Reading
Balloons also have the advantage of holding relatively stationary positions over a surveillance target, compared to constantly orbiting satellites used by spy agencies to take photographs. “These things can stay overhead, they can stay over one spot months at a time, compared to the low-Earth-orbit satellites,” Kim said. COULD ITContinue Reading
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a visit to China that had been expected to start on Friday (Feb 3) after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was tracked flying across the United States in what Washington called a “clear violation” of US sovereignty. Military leaders considered shooting downContinue Reading