WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that three unmanned aerial objects shot down over the weekend by the U.S. military were “most definitely tied to personal firms, recreation or research institutions,” and weren’t connected to the huge Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down on Feb. 4.
“We do not yet know what these three objects were, but nothing at once suggests that they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from another country,” Biden said on the White House.
The remarks got here after days of mounting pressure from each Democrats and Republicans in Congress, who said the American people deserved to listen to from the president exactly what the administration knew in regards to the spy balloon and why Biden later ordered three more floating objects shot down by American fighter jets.
The president explained that within the wake of the Chinese balloon, American military defense radars raised their sensitivity levels “to choose up more slow-moving objects above our country and around the globe.”
“In doing so, they tracked three unidentified objects, in Alaska, Canada and over Lake Huron within the Midwest,” he said.
“I gave the order to take down these three objects on account of hazards to civilian business air traffic, and since we couldn’t rule out the surveillance risk over sensitive facilities,” said Biden.
Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare material recovered within the Atlantic Ocean from a high-altitude balloon brought down over U.S. territorial waters on February 4 for transport to federal agents at Joint Expeditionary Base-Little Creek in Virginia Beach, Virginia, February 10, 2023.
Ryan Seelbach | US Navy Photo | via Reuters
As of Thursday, the White House said it had recovered key surveillance technology from the Chinese balloon. “What we learn will strengthen our capabilities,” he added.
It was not clear whether any debris from the three smaller objects had been recovered, or for the way long those efforts would proceed.
Following the destruction of the spy balloon, the US announced recent sanctions last week on six Chinese military and aerial technology firms for his or her alleged involvement in China’s global aerial surveillance program.
On Thursday, Beijing announced its intent to levy sanctions against major U.S. defense contractors in an apparent retaliation for the American sanctions.
But slightly than raise the stakes even higher along with his remarks, Biden sought to defuse tensions between the world’s two largest economies, tensions that some experts say are near an all-time high.
“We seek competition, not conflict with China,” said the president. “We’re not searching for a recent Cold War … we’ll compete and can we responsibly manage that competition in order that it doesn’t veer into conflict.”
The spy balloon episode, he said, “underscores the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between our diplomats and military professionals” in Beijing and Washington.
Biden also said he expected to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping and “get to the underside” of what happened.
Two white balloons float near the Chinese flag as activist Rev. Patrick Mahoney protests against the Chinese government over the alleged Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down over the US last week, during an indication outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, February 15, 2023.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
Speaking later to NBC’s Peter Alexander, Biden said the balloon incident was an example of the a whole bunch of individual events “of consequence” that occur between two major world powers just like the U.S. and China, that are significant on their very own, but “don’t necessarily reflect any fundamental change in policy.”
“I feel the very last thing that Xi wants is to fundamentally rip the connection with the US that was made, when it comes to access” to U.S. markets, Biden told Alexander.
The huge Chinese surveillance balloon was first detected in American airspace off of Alaska on Jan. 28, and was shot down on Feb. 4 in U.S. airspace off the coast of South Carolina.
Floating visibly above the continental U.S. and Canada for eight days, the spy balloon caused an outcry, with each the general public and members of Congress demanding to know why Biden had not ordered the balloon be shot down sooner.
Lower than every week after the spy balloon was destroyed, the primary of three more objects was taken down in waters above the Arctic Ocean on Friday. The scale of a small automobile and floating at 40,000 feet, this object was much smaller than the Chinese balloon.
In the future later, a balloon that was similar in size and altitude was shot down over the Canadian Yukon. The third floating object was barely smaller and floating at just 20,000 feet when it was taken out over Lake Huron on Sunday.
