Why didn’t Canada shoot down a Chinese spy balloon? Defence minister explains – National | 24CA News
Ottawa was “examining the trajectory and analyzing” a Chinese spy balloon final week earlier than it determined to not shoot it down, the nationwide defence minister says.
Anita Anand defined to reporters in Washington on Friday that the Canadian authorities was intently monitoring the balloon with the United States through NORAD, the continental defence alliance between each international locations, all through its complete flight earlier than the U.S. shot it down final weekend.
But why didn’t Canada resolve to shoot it down when it was in Canadian airspace?
“We were examining the trajectory and analyzing the balloon, including the height of the balloon and the contents of the balloon, and determined that it posed no imminent risk to Canadians at all,” Anand stated. She met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the Pentagon as she wrapped up a two-day go to to Washington with Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.
“We were watching it very carefully to ensure we were doing what is necessary to protect Canadians, and we’re doing that in the context of the NORAD relationship, of course, so that when the United States made that decision to shoot it down, Secretary Austin did thank Canada because we were making these decisions jointly about imminent threats.”
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The balloon was shot down by a U.S. army fighter jet on Saturday over the ocean close to South Carolina.
NORAD started monitoring the balloon because it approached U.S. airspace, the Pentagon stated Wednesday. It handed north of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 and moved largely over land throughout Alaska after which into Canadian airspace earlier than crossing again into the U.S. over northern Idaho on Jan. 31.
Anand didn’t say Friday the place the balloon was when it first entered Canadian airspace, or what areas it handed over and for a way lengthy it was over Canada earlier than heading south.
The U.S. navy and coast guard are working to get well items of the downed balloon for evaluation and so they’re working to find out if it collected any intelligence from both nation, Anand stated.
“The analysis of the balloon and contents is what the United States is undertaking on its own. We’re not part of that,” she stated.
“What we were making sure is that there was no threat to Canadians and the analysis about any further intelligence gathering is ongoing right now.”
The public announcement of the balloon’s discovery late final week sparked outrage in each international locations and prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a visit to China that weekend.
In this photograph offered by Chad Fish, the remnants of a giant balloon drift above the Atlantic Ocean, simply off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen beneath it on Feb. 4. China stated Feb. 7 it would “resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests” over the taking pictures down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon by the United States, as relations between the 2 international locations deteriorate additional.
Chad Fish through AP, File
That balloon was a part of a “broader suite of operations” which might be underway by Beijing, a U.S. official stated Thursday. Jedidiah Royal, the U.S. assistant defence secretary for the Indo-Pacific, instructed a U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee Thursday the army has “some very good guesses” about what intelligence China was in search of.
When pressed on what data the balloon was particularly attempting to collect, Royal stated U.S. officers “are learning more as we exploit the contents of the balloon and the payload itself.”
“We understand that this is part of a broader suite of operations that China is undertaking to try to get a better understanding of the U.S.,” Royal stated.
His public feedback got here simply hours after The Associated Press (AP) reported that China’s balloon was geared up to gather intelligence alerts and was a part of an enormous, military-linked aerial spy program that focused greater than 40 international locations.
Citing a State Department official who offered particulars to reporters by e mail on situation of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the matter, AP stated a fleet of balloons operates beneath the route of China’s People’s Liberation Army and is used particularly for spying, outfitted with high-tech gear designed to gather delicate data from targets throughout the globe.
Similar balloons have floated over 5 continents, based on the administration. China admitted on Monday {that a} balloon travelling over Latin America was additionally theirs.
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The particulars from the official had been billed as an try to refute China’s denials that the balloon was used for spying, together with a declare Thursday that U.S. accusations in regards to the balloon quantity to “information warfare” in opposition to Beijing.
The balloon was noticed over Montana on Feb. 2, which is residence to one in every of America’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base, based on a U.S. official who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate delicate data on the time.
The incident, in addition to the American reviews, prompted Ottawa to summon China’s ambassador to Canada.
Canadian relations with China have been uneasy for a number of years, intensifying in latest months over allegations of makes an attempt to affect and intervene in Canadian affairs.
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