What was it China said? The balloon was “mainly for meteorological purposes?”
Well, that’s a load of bull.
Here’s what the PRC said in the wake of the balloon being shot down by the U.S. Military.
“The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. 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 Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure.”
They later added…
“This is entirely an unexpected situation caused by force majeure and the facts are very clear. China always acts in strict accordance with international law and respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. We have no intention to violate and has never violated the territory or airspace of any sovereign country. Some politicians and media in the US have hyped it up to attack and smear China. The Chinese side is firmly opposed to that.”
Well, we’re firmly opposed to spyin’ and lyin’.
We now know, according to multiple reports, that the spy balloon was able to gather U.S. Military intelligence and did gather U.S. Military intelligence.
“China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure-eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real-time,” according to an NBC News report. “The intelligence China collected was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images.”
“Multiple passes.”
“U.S. military commanders had determined downing the balloon while over land posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement after the balloon was downed.
You mean the surveillance payload that was being transmitted back to Beijing in real-time? Are Alaska and Montana really that population dense that we had to let this thing fly figure eights all over the country collecting data?
Another China blunder from the Biden Administration.
