Amid the ongoing controversy over Chinese reconnaissance balloons that appeared over the United States, claims have emerged that Chinese reconnaissance balloons have been observed several times in the Middle East as well.
According to Politico, a media outlet specializing in US politics, and Almonitor, a media specializing in the Middle East, on the 13th (local time), Lieutenant General Alex Greenewitch of the US Air Force Central Command, a neutral diplomacy and security think tank, called the Center for a New American Security. Security)’ was mentioned at an event hosted by
“The high-altitude balloons did not stay over the US base or pose any threat to the US military,” he said. “The balloon I am talking about is Chinese.”
He added that balloons were observed once or twice, such as last fall, and that “there were times when balloons stayed on the water, but I did not get close enough to discern whether they were simply meteorological balloons or surveillance objects.”
He also mentioned scouting balloons as “allowing us to keep an eye on places that are hard to see for as long as we can see them.”
Politico reported that Lieutenant General Green Keywich’s remarks came on the same day that the United States refuted China’s claims. In response to China’s assertion that “the United States has also blown balloons over China more than 10 times over the past year,” the United States came out with a rebuttal that the United States called it “false.”
Adrian Watson, spokesman for the White House National Security Council (NSC), said in a post on Twitter that day, “The claim that the US government operates reconnaissance balloons over China is false.”
“It is China that has violated the sovereignty of the United States and over 40 countries on five continents by operating a high-altitude reconnaissance balloon program to collect information,” he said.
The US has shot down four reconnaissance balloons since the beginning of this month. South Carolina on the 4th, Alaska on the 10th, Yukon, Canada on the 11th, and Lake Huron, Michigan, USA on the 12th.
The US has largely stopped using the word ‘Chinese spy balloon’ since the second shot down. Instead, it is called an unidentified unmanned high-altitude flying object.
Since then, a certain general of the Ministry of National Defense mentioned the possibility of an ‘alien’, and related speculation is also rampant.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.