The balloon incident has raised tensions between China and the US
Beijing:
Beijing rejected a request for a secure call between Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and his counterpart on the day a US warplane shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, a US Defense Department spokesman said on Tuesday. Had given.
Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement, “On Saturday, February 4, shortly after the PRC took action to shoot down the balloon, DOD submitted a request for a secure call between Secretary Austin and Wei Fenghe, the PRC’s Minister of National Defense ” The People’s Republic of China.
Ryder said, “Unfortunately, the PRC has denied our request. Our commitment to keep the lines of communication open will continue.”
China says the balloon was a mistaken weather observation aircraft with no military purpose, but Washington describes it as a sophisticated high-altitude spy vehicle.
After slowly crossing the middle of the United States, reportedly over several top-secret military sites, the balloon headed over the East Coast, where it was shot down by a fighter jet on Saturday.
Austin and Wei met in Cambodia last November as Washington and Beijing sought to cool the temperature following a visit by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that angered China.
But the balloon incident escalated tensions, and prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a rare visit to Beijing.
On Monday, President Joe Biden defended the decision to wait until the balloon crossed the country, saying the Defense Department concluded it was best to do so over water.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the same day that measures were taken to “reduce” their ability to spy on the balloon instruments during flyovers, while at the same time “increasing our ability to gather intelligence and information”. There was growth and improvement.”
General Glenn VanHerk, head of the US Northern Command, said a naval ship would map the area of debris left by the balloon, which is expected to measure about 1,500 by 1,500 meters (yards) in the Atlantic.
He said the balloon itself was up to 200 feet (60 m) tall and carried a payload weighing several thousand pounds that was roughly the size of a regional jet aircraft.
Vanherck said the wreckage of the balloon would be carefully studied.
“I don’t know where the debris is going for the final analysis, but I will tell you that certainly the law enforcement community as well as the intelligence community that operates under the counterintelligence will be taking a good look at this,” he said. Said .
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
featured video of the day
India sends first consignment of relief material to earthquake-hit Turkey