New Delhi: A day after a Chinese surveillance balloon was spotted over Montana in the United States, another one was seen flying over Latin America, the Pentagon said Friday night. "We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon," Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement, news agency ANI reported citing reports from AFP.
The development is likely to further strain the already tense bilateral ties ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's key visit to Beijing. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder earlier said the US government has been tracking the balloon for several days as it made its way over the northern United States and flying over sensitive installations. He told reporters on Thursday that the balloon was "travelling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground."
The Chinese spy balloon is said to be the size of three buses. "NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) continues to track and monitor it closely," Patrick Ryder said earlier. Montana, a sparsely populated state, is home to one of only three nuclear missile silo fields in the US, at Malmstrom Air Force Base. "Once the balloon was detected, the US government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information," Ryder said.
Reacting to the Pentagon's report, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed that the balloon was a Chinese "civilian airship" which had deviated from its planned route. "The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes," the spokesperson said in a statement posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website.
"Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure," the statement said. Earlier, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing on Friday that China was verifying the Pentagon's report on the balloon.
She urged calm "until the facts are clear." "China is a responsible country and always abides strictly by international law. We have no intention of violating the territory or airspace of any sovereign country," she said. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Ryder said the balloon is travelling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground. (With Agency inputs)
