China confirms that the balloon flying over Latin America is its own

Beijing confirmed on Monday that the balloon detected while flying over some Latin American countries comes from China, while the United States has tried to recover the remains of a similar bomb shot down over the weekend in its airspace.

China has expressed outrage at the US decision to shoot down a first probe detected on its soil, which Beijing insists a meteorological apparatus which has deviated from its course.

After detecting the first balloon that flew over the United States, Washington reacted by canceling a trip to China by the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken.

This Monday, Xi Jinping’s government acknowledged that the second balloon that was detected over Latin America over the weekend is also Chinese.

China’s foreign ministry explained on Monday that the object is for civilian purposes and is being used for a “flight test”.

The Chinese authorities have remarked that the balloon does not represent “any threat” and that the countries of Latin America “understand the situation”.

“China is always governed by international law, we don’t pose a threat to any of these countries and they understand it that way,” foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at the department’s daily news conference.

The countries over which the plane’s passage was detected are Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela, according to various sources.

“He has deviated from his path”

Due to “weather forces and its limited maneuverability, the airship deviated severely from its intended course” and “accidentally entered Latin American and Caribbean airspace,” the spokeswoman said.

“China is a responsible country and has always strictly complied with international law,” he added.

“We have communicated with affected parties and are handling (the issue) appropriately, e we will not cause any threat in any country,” he continued.

China’s statement came three days after the Pentagon warned of a second one alleged spy balloon of China had been detected while flying over some countries of Latin America.

For its part, the Colombian Air Force indicated that “an object” with “balloon-like characteristics” had been detected and monitored “until it left the airspace”.

The US Department of Defense did not provide details of the identified device’s location in Latin America, nor where it was headed.

High voltage

The US Air Force shot down the first Chinese balloon on Saturday with a missile off the coast of South Carolina in the southeast of the country.

Pentagon officials have described it as a “high-flying surveillance balloon” and the United States said it has taken steps to prevent it from collecting sensitive information.

The incident raised tensions between the two powers, which sought a rapprochement after years of trade and political disputes.

Beijing, which claims the device is for civilian purposes, accused the United States of overreacting through the use of force, saying it “reserves the right” to take revenge.

In the United States, the Republican opposition has criticized President Joe Biden for not having a firmer and faster response.

The leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, defended the government’s action, saying it allows “maximizing the collection of information”.

Schumer said the Senate will receive a confidential report Feb. 15.

The visit that Blinken has suspended to China would have been the first by a top US diplomat to the Asian country since Mike Pompeo’s tour in 2018.

After Blinken’s trip was canceled and the first device scrapped, China left the conciliatory tone which he had first adopted to express himself with greater disdain.

Source: AFP and EFE