The United States Department of Defense has stated this Friday night that it has detected a second Chinese spy balloon that would be flying over Latin America.
“We are seeing reports of a balloon in transit through Latin America. We now evaluate that it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” said the Pentagon spokesman, General Patrick Ryder, in statements to CNN.
So far, the location of the second balloon has not been specified, but according to sources cited by the media, this device does not seem to be heading towards US territory.
The discovery of this second balloon takes place a day after the US Department of Defense reported that it had located a supposed Chinese spy balloon over its continental airspace.
The highest-ranking officer in the US Armed Forces and President Biden’s chief military advisor, Mark Milley, recommended not shooting down the balloon – which was seen in the state of Montana – since it did not represent a military threat, emphasizing that the administration acted “immediately” to protect against the collection of confidential information, as reported by CNN.
For its part, the Chinese government confirmed this Friday that the first balloon located by the US authorities in North American airspace is owned by them, although it has noted that it is of “civil nature” and is used for “scientific research.”
“The balloon is from China and is of a civil nature, used for scientific research, such as meteorological issues,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who pointed out that “after being affected by western winds and due to the limitation of its control capacity, it deviated severely from its planned route.”
This event has altered diplomatic relations between the two powers. Specifically, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has canceled his visit to China, which was scheduled for next week.
Blinken was going to become the first member of President Biden’s Cabinet to visit the Asian giant, but now the authorities have decided to cancel the trip for the moment, pending more information about the balloon in question, which was detected at a high altitude over areas of the state of Montana that house nuclear facilities.
The Biden Administration considers that going to China now could send a wrong message, so the trip has been postponed indefinitely, as explained by government sources to the newspaper “The Wall Street Journal.”
Later, Blinken himself appeared before the media to confirm the cancellation of his trip to Beijing, as he considers the recent events to be “harmful” to the affairs that the officials planned to address in Chinese territory.
He also acknowledged having contacted the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, to reprimand him for the “irresponsible act” of overflying the balloon over US territory.
