Source: NYT (2/3/23)
China Says Suspected Spy Balloon Is a ‘Civilian Airship’ That Strayed Off Course
Beijing said the object, which had been seen flying over Montana, was used mainly for weather research. It was not immediately clear whether the explanation would satisfy the U.S.
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While the Pentagon played down the potential value of the balloon for acquiring intelligence, the initial public reaction by Biden administration officials underscored how brittle and delicate relations with Beijing have become. Credit…Eva Hambach/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Beijing sought to defuse tensions with Washington on Friday over a Chinese high-altitude balloon that floated over the United States, expressing its regret over the incident, and saying that the balloon was for civilian research and had “deviated far from its planned course.”
The explanation from the Chinese Foreign Ministry came after Pentagon officials had said on Thursday that they had detected an “intelligence-gathering balloon, most certainly launched by the People’s Republic of China,” over the state that is home to about 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos.
After initially telling a news conference that it had to check on the claims about the balloon, the Foreign Ministry said late on Friday in Beijing that it was an innocent mistake.
“The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,” an unidentified spokesperson for the ministry said in a statement on its website. “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.” “Force majeure” refers to a violation caused by forces beyond a party’s control. Continue reading