The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its dissatisfaction with the United States' shooting down of the "Chinese meteorological" balloon, which Washington considered a spy balloon.
According to the ministry's statement: "The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction and protest against the use of force by the United States to attack an unmanned civilian aircraft... China, after verification, has repeatedly notified the US side that the balloon is for civilian use and entered US airspace, due to force majeure." The American reaction was completely unexpected.
Wow incredible video of the balloon getting popped! pic.twitter.com/h0hlbq66cd
— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_the_Dr) February 5, 2023
The Chinese Foreign Minister said: "We express our dissatisfaction with the use of force by the United States to shoot down a balloon used for meteorology and weather studies."
The Foreign Ministry indicated that Beijing reserves the right to respond to this American violation.
After the Chinese balloon passed sensitive military sites across North America and became the latest hotbed of tension between Washington and Beijing, the US military shot it down as it entered American airspace from the northwestern border, as soon as it reached a safe area over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern coast of the country.
A senior official in the US Department of Defense stated that the studies conducted by the United States on the equipment in the Chinese balloon showed that it was used for espionage and reconnaissance missions.
A Pentagon spokesman told reporters: "I can't go into more detail, but we had the opportunity to study the balloon and the valuable equipment loaded on it."
The official noted that the United States had informed Beijing that it had shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
It is expected to fall in the territorial waters of the United States, and Washington hopes that the devices loaded on it will be found and studied.
An operation is underway in US territorial waters to recover debris from the balloon, which was flying at an altitude of about 60,000 feet (18,288 metres) and is estimated to be the size of three school buses.
Two US officials said the blimp was shot down by an Air Force fighter plane, and the footage shows a slight explosion followed by the blimp descending into the water.
The Pentagon confirmed that the Chinese spy balloon was shot down by an "air-to-air" missile launched from an "F-22" fighter jet.
US officials had aimed to time the operation so they could recover as much of the wreckage as possible before it sank into the ocean, and the Pentagon had previously estimated that any wreckage area would be large.
Earlier, a Pentagon spokesman said that a reconnaissance balloon was spotted over the territory of the United States, which flew from the Aleutian Islands through the territory of Canada and reached the US state of Montana.
"Our forces have located a reconnaissance balloon high above the mainland United States and it has been tracking it for the past two days," Ryder was quoted as saying by NBC.
"We are closely monitoring this," he added, noting that "immediately after the balloon was discovered, the US authorities took measures to prevent the collection of sensitive information."
The Pentagon confirmed that the balloon's movements are being tracked by the North American Aerospace Defense Command "NORAD", and the US military believes that the balloon is Chinese, and the Ministry of Defense indicated that the balloon was not shot down because it posed a danger of falling in populated areas.
On his part, a representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry explained that "the balloon arrived from China and its purpose is of a civilian nature, especially as it is used for meteorological research." According to him, "due to strong westerly winds, the balloon lost control and deviated from the specified course."
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