A day after a comparable device was discovered in the skies of the US, the Pentagon has confirmed that a Chinese spy balloon has been spotted above the skies of Latin America. Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, decided to postpone his trip to Beijing as a result.
Blinken had also stated that he would use the trip to help establish “guardrails” to prevent the relationship between US and China from escalating into all out conflict
Chinese Spy balloon spotted over Latin America
This visit would have been the first visit of a US Diplomat to China after 2018. Visit was intended to signal normalcy in relationship in relationship following intense friction under former US President Donald Trump
Pentagon sources have further revealed that the first balloon which was spotted a day earlier in US aerospace is now heading east wards over Central United States, adding it was not shot for safety reasons.
Later Pentagon said,
“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America”.
“We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,”
China issues regret statement
Prior to Biden’s cancellation of the trip to China, Beijing issued a rare statement of regret over the first balloon and blamed the gust of wind for pushing what it called a civilian airship into US airspace.
However, President Biden’s administration described it as a surveillance balloon.
In telephone conversation which Blinken had with senior Chinese official Wang Yi, he stated,
“made clear that the presence of this surveillance balloon in US airspace is a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law, that it’s an irresponsible act”.
Blnken told Wang that
“the United States is committed to diplomatic engagement with China and that I plan to visit Beijing when conditions allow.”
Further he told reporters.
“The first step is getting the surveillance asset out of our airspace. That’s what we’re focused on,”
Agencies quoted as Wang as saying,
“China is a responsible country and has always strictly abided by international law,”
Further Wang stated,
“We do not accept any groundless speculation and hype,”
Further he requested
“avoid misjudgments and manage divergence.”
Reaction from Republicans
Republicans are up in arms over the Balloon incident and have reacted furiously to the Balloon incident
Hardline Senator Tom Cotton Tweeted,
“President Biden should stop coddling and appeasing the Chinese communists. Bring the balloon down now and exploit its tech package, which could be an intelligence bonanza,”
Furious Donald Trump reacted in his Social Media Platform
“Shoot down the balloon!”
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