Chinese spy balloon: U.S. military in search of remnants after shoot down – National | 24CA News

The U.S. navy stated on Sunday it’s looking for remnants of the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon it shot down the day prior to this, in a dramatic spy saga that has additional strained American-Chinese relations.

The U.S. Navy is working to get better the balloon and its payload and the Coast Guard is offering safety for the operation, stated General Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command.

A profitable restoration might probably give the United States perception into China’s spying capabilities, although U.S. officers have downplayed the balloon’s affect on nationwide safety.

A U.S. Air Force fighter jet on Saturday shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina, per week after it first entered U.S. airspace close to Alaska. VanHerck stated the incident occurred over U.S. territorial waters.

China protested the response as an “obvious overreaction,” however analysts stated that any counter-move by Beijing will possible be finely calibrated to maintain from worsening ties.

Republican lawmakers on Sunday criticized President Joe Biden for ready days to shoot down the balloon because it floated over the United States, accusing him of displaying weak point towards China and initially attempting to maintain the breach of U.S. airspace undisclosed.

“I think part of it is the president’s reluctance to take any action that would be viewed as provocative or confrontational towards the Chinese communists,” stated Republican Tom Cotton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Former President Donald Trump and his former nationwide intelligence director, John Ratcliffe, denied Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s evaluation that related balloons had transited the United States throughout his presidency.

“China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did,” Trump wrote on social media web site Truth Social.

2:51Ted Cruz says Chinese spy balloon ought to’ve been shot down earlier

But Republican Representative Michael Waltz backed up Austin, telling the Washington Post that the Pentagon had notified Congress that Chinese balloons had been noticed close to the United States a number of instances throughout Trump’s tenure.

He stated balloons had been noticed close to Texas and twice close to Florida, in addition to beforehand identified sightings close to Hawaii and Guam.

Democrats stated Biden’s resolution to attend to shoot down the balloon till it had handed over the United States protected civilians from particles crashing to Earth.

“The president called for this to be dealt with in a way that balanced all of the different risks. That’s exactly what happened,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer dismissed the Republican criticism as “premature and political.”

“The bottom line here is that shooting down the balloon over water wasn’t just the safest option, but it was the one that maximized our intel gain,” he stated at a news convention.

The Pentagon will temporary senators on the balloon and Chinese surveillance on Feb. 15, Schumer stated.

Republican Mike Turner, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, stated he believed China was utilizing the balloon to determine easy methods to counter U.S. nuclear weapons and missile protection programs.

“The president has allowed this to go across our most sensitive sites and wasn’t even going to tell the American public,” Turner stated on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.

11:02China is a ‘legitimate threat’ to U.S., Canada: ambassador

Republican Marco Rubio, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, informed the ABC News program “This Week” that China was attempting to ship a message that it might enter U.S. airspace. Rubio stated he doubted that the balloon’s particles can be of a lot intelligence worth.

(Reporting by David Lawder, Kanishka Singh, Gram Slattery and Andy Sullivan in Washington and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Scott Malone, Will Dunham, Grant McCool and Diane Craft)