The State Department said that the Chinese balloon which recently flew over American territory before being shot down was equipped with antennas capable of collecting communications.
A department official quoted in a press release, relayed by the American media, said in this sense that the Biden administration is considering measures against China’s surveillance program.
High-resolution images provided by U-2 planes that revealed a set of surveillance equipment that was inconsistent with Beijing’s claim that the balloon was a civilian craft for weather research, he added.
For his part, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in an interview that the Pentagon shot down the balloon to limit what it could learn about US nuclear capabilities, pointing out that Chinese balloons had flown over parts of the states. States in previous years, passing over Texas and Florida.
The already high tensions between the United States and China on several fronts have been further exacerbated by this affair. Beijing claimed the balloon was a civilian device intended for weather research, calling its destruction by the US military “obvious overreaction” and a violation of unwritten rules of international good practice.
The trip expected this week by the US Secretary of State to China has been postponed indefinitely. The balloon incursion “is an irresponsible act and a clear violation of United States sovereignty that undermines the purpose of the trip,” the State Department said in a statement. During his State of the Union address, US President Joe Biden said that the United States would not be intimidated by China. The balloon was shot down by an F-22 fighter off South Carolina on Saturday.
“The United States was not the only target of this program, which violated the sovereignty of several countries on five continents,” Blinken said at a press conference Wednesday alongside the NATO secretary general. , Jens Stoltenberg.