Joe Biden has walked the talk. The US military shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean off the US east coast, a US official told media on Saturday. The US president had said earlier on Saturday that the United States would “deal” with the Chinese balloon that entered US airspace. A few minutes after the operation, the tenant of the White House congratulated the pilots who “successfully” shot down the Chinese balloon. “I ordered the Pentagon to take him down on Wednesday as soon as possible. (…) I want to congratulate the pilots who did it, ”insisted Joe Biden.
Its Minister of Defense reaffirmed this Saturday, on the sidelines of the operation, that the presence of the object constituted an “unacceptable violation” of American sovereignty. “This afternoon, on the orders of President (Joe) Biden, an American fighter jet (…) successfully shot down a high-altitude spy balloon, which belonged to the People’s Republic of China, in the airspace over- off the coast of South Carolina,” Lloyd Austin said, adding that Joe Biden will “always make the safety of Americans a priority while responding effectively to an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”
According to American media, the Chinese balloon, which the Pentagon claims is a “spy” balloon, was observed on Saturday over North Carolina on the east coast of the United States. Beijing acknowledged that it was indeed a device from China, but assured that it was a “civilian aircraft, used for research purposes, mainly meteorological”.
Three airports closed
The machine would have “deviated from its trajectory”, added a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressing the “regrets” of his country for this “involuntary” violation of American airspace. The balloon notably flew over the state of Montana (west), which is home to nuclear missile silos, before moving east. It had so far been decided not to shoot it down, because of the risks posed by possible debris for people on the ground, explained a senior Pentagon official.
Before the balloon was shot down, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a ground stop to close airports in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Charleston and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. The FAA also restricted airspace near Myrtle Beach “to support the Department of Defense in a national security effort.”
