The Chinese balloon shot down by the US was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial surveillance program that targeted more than 40 countries, the administration of US President Joe Biden said on Thursday, citing imagery from US military aircraft.
A fleet of balloons operates under the direction of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and is used specifically for spying, outfitted with high-tech equipment designed to gather sensitive information from targets across the globe, the US said.
Similar balloons have sailed over five continents, the administration said.
Photo: Reuters
A statement from a senior US Department of State official offered the most detail linking China’s military to the balloon that was shot down by the US last weekend over the Atlantic Ocean.
The public details outlining the program’s scope and capabilities were meant to refute China’s denials that the balloon was used for spying, including a claim on Thursday that US accusations about the balloon amount to “information warfare.”
Asked during an interview with the Spanish-language Telemundo Noticias television program whether the balloon was a major security breach, Biden said: “No.”
“The total amount of intelligence gathering that’s going on by every country around the world is overwhelming,” he said. “It’s not a major breach.”
On Capitol Hill, the US House of Representatives voted unanimously to condemn China for a “brazen violation” of US sovereignty and efforts to “deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns,” voting 419 to zero on the motion.
The US contradicted China’s claims that it was a weather balloon that strayed off course, saying that imagery of the balloon collected by its aircraft as it crossed the country showed that it was “capable of conducting signals intelligence collection” with multiple antennas and other equipment designed to upload sensitive information and solar panels to power them.
Jedidiah Royal, the US assistant defense secretary for the Indo-Pacific region, told a US Senate Appropriations subcommittee that the military has “some very good guesses” about what intelligence China was seeking.
Senior FBI officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity said only a few pieces of the balloon had arrived at the FBI’s Quantico, Virginia, lab for analysis.
So far, investigators have parts of the balloon canopy, wiring, and what one official called “a very small amount of electronics.”
The official said it was “very early for us to assess what the intent was and how the device was operating.”
Two US officials said some balloon debris was intact on the ocean floor and divers had recovered potentially high-value equipment.
Another official said that some of the recovered equipment had English writing on them, but it was not clear if they were from the US or another English-speaking country.
Washington is confident that the manufacturer of the balloon has “a direct relationship with China’s military and is an approved vendor” of its army, the official said.
Washington is reaching out to countries that have also been targeted, the official said.
US Department of State spokesman Ned Price would not identify the other countries targeted, nor did he reveal how the US knows, saying to do so could compromise intelligence sources and methods.
The release of new information appeared part of a coordinated administration response, with multiple officials appearing before congressional committees to face questions about the balloon.
Testifying before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said officials had taken “all necessary steps to protect sensitive information” and had been able to study and scrutinize the balloon and its equipment.
“We will continue to answer the dangers posed by the PRC [People’s Republic of China] with determination and resolve,” Sherman said. “We will make clear to the PRC that violations of our sovereignty and the sovereignty of other countries are unacceptable.”
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS