A day after a spy balloon was spotted flying over Montana in the United States, another spy balloon has been spotted flying in the skies of Latin America, Pentagon confirmed on Friday.
In a statement, Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson said, “We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it as another Chinese surveillance balloon.”
Earlier, Canada’s Department of National Defence said that it is monitoring the potential second incident and is working with the US government to track the high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon.
“A high-altitude surveillance balloon was detected and its movements are being actively tracked by NORAD,” read a statement from the Canadian Department of National Defence. “Canadians are safe and Canada is taking steps to ensure the security of its airspace, including the monitoring of a potential second incident,” the Canadian Department of National Defence said in a statement.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Antony Blinken postponed his visit to Beijing in response to a separate high-altitude Chinese balloon intruding into US airspace.
The presence of this surveillance balloon in US airspace is a blatant violation of US sovereignty and international law, Blinken said in South Korea on Friday after speaking with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat.
However, according to Blinken, he informed Wang that “the United States is committed to diplomatic engagement with China and that I plan to visit Beijing when circumstances allow.”
“Getting the surveillance asset out of our airspace is the first step. That’s what we’re focused on,” Blinken told the media.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a visit to China after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was tracked flying across the United States in what Washington called a ‘clear violation’ of U.S. sovereignty https://t.co/Y7LQWgwttR pic.twitter.com/w1uSi242ra
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 4, 2023
Interestingly, China has claimed that the spy balloon is actually a weather balloon that had blown off course.
China’s foreign ministry said in a statement late on Friday that it would keep in touch with the US to manage the unexpected scenario appropriately.
“The Chinese airship is a civilian device used for in meteorological and other scientific research. The airship deviated off track due to the influence of westerly winds and its limited control capacity,” it read.
“China regrets that the airship strayed into the United States by mistake due to force majeure. To properly handle this accident, China will maintain communication with the US side,” the statement added.
