Washington
Act Daily News
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made clear that the US has little doubt China was looking for to surveil the US by way of the balloon that was finally shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month.
“I can’t say dispositively what the original intent was, but that doesn’t matter because what we saw when it was over the United States was clearly an attempt to surveil very sensitive military sites,” Blinken stated on ABC’s “This Week” in an interview taped Saturday.
“The balloon went over many of them. It, in some cases, loitered,” he added. “We took measures to protect that information. We took measures to get information about the balloon. And I think we’ll know more when we … actually get the remains.”
Following the downing of the suspected Chinese spy balloon, the US army downed three subsequent objects that have been a lot smaller and are actually believed to haven’t been tied to any nation’s surveillance program, President Joe Biden stated final week. Instead, they have been possible used for climate or analysis functions by non-public entities.
US officers have stated that the Chinese balloon, in distinction, had a payload – or the tools it was carrying – the scale of roughly three buses and was able to accumulating alerts intelligence and taking pictures. The balloon traveled over delicate websites in Montana, officers have stated, however the administration has stated it tracked the balloon’s path and labored to reduce its intelligence assortment capabilities.
The US has stated that the balloon was half of a giant fleet managed by the Chinese army that has performed surveillance over a minimum of 40 international locations throughout 5 continents in recent times.
“There’s absolutely no doubt in our minds about what the balloon, once over the United States, was attempting to do. And no doubt in our minds about this surveillance balloon program that China has, and again, has been used over more than 40 countries around the world,” Blinken instructed ABC.
On the subject of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the highest US diplomat stated Sunday he has issues over China’s help of Russia’s army, particularly that Beijing is contemplating supplying Moscow with “lethal support.”
Act Daily News beforehand reported that the US has begun seeing “disturbing” trendlines of late in China’s help for Russia’s army, and there are indicators that Beijing desires to “creep up to the line” of offering deadly army assist to Russia with out getting caught, in line with US officers aware of the intelligence.
The officers wouldn’t describe intimately what intelligence the US has seen suggesting a current shift in China’s posture however stated US officers have been involved sufficient that they shared the intelligence with allies and companions on the Munich Security Conference in Germany over the previous a number of days.
“We’ve been watching this very closely,” Blinken instructed “Face the Nation” on CBS whereas in Munich.
“The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support, and we’ve made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship,” Blinken stated.
Source: www.cnn.com