The machine was notably reported in Montana, where one of the country’s three nuclear missile silos is located. Washington declares that he has given up shooting it up because of the potential risks for people on the ground.
mo12345lemonde with AP and AFP
This will not alleviate relationships between Washington and Beijing. According to US officials, the Pentagon has been watching a high altitude of Chinese spy ball over the United States territory.
for a few days.
“We take measures in order to protect ourselves against the collection of sensitive information”, first said, Thursday, February 2, a senior American defense official, who was expressed under the cover of anonymity . He insisted on “the limited added value in terms of information collection” of the machine described as a ball of a fairly large dimension. “We considered that it was large enough for the debris to cause damage” if it had been shot in an inhabited area, he explained.
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder, then said that the aerospace defense command of the United States and Canada (Norad) monitored the movements of the balloon, which does not have a “military or physical risk For people on the ground “.
“Clearly, this balloon is intended for surveillance and its current trajectory brings it above sensitive sites”, in particular nuclear silos, continued the first American official, evoking the state of Montana, in the west of the United States.
“an altitude greater than that of commercial air traffic”
According to Mr. Ryder, the American government continues to follow the ball which “is currently moving to an altitude much higher than that of commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat for people on the ground”.
The ball has entered the air space of the United States “several days ago” but American intelligence has been monitoring it for long before, it was said to be the first source by adding that it is not not the first time that the American army has noticed such an intrusion.
m. Ryder said the United States has contacted Chinese officials by multiple channels and told them about the severity of the situation. The announcement of the Pentagon comes a few days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken went to China. It is not certain that this will affect its travel plans, that the State Department has not yet officially announced.