U.S. military officials are claiming the Chinese government is running a global surveillance project utilizing balloons, like the one that traversed the skies between Alaska and South Carolina before being shot down last week.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, the alleged spy balloon was destroyed just off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday after it entered U.S. air space and prompted speculation and recrimination over Chinese espionage.
Authorities are now stating that the scale of Chinese aerial surveillance spanned 40 countries across five continents.
The Pentagon’s press secretary, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, held a press briefing Wednesday, stating, “There have been four previous balloons that have gone over U.S. territory … This is what we assess is part of a larger Chinese surveillance balloon program … that’s been operable for several years.”
A total of five potential spy balloons have now been acknowledged by the U.S. government, including the most recent one that was shot down.
Two have been identified during the Biden administration, and another three were spotted during former President Donald Trump’s tenure, according to The New York Times.
There have also been reports of potential spy balloon sightings in Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Japan, and Taiwan, among others.
Many U.S. officials, like Ryder, as well as lawmakers seem to agree that the operation’s purpose is to gather military intelligence that can be gleaned from the sky.
For instance, clearer pictures can be taken from the relatively slow-moving balloon’s altitude than from a high-velocity satellite. Certain signal frequencies that cannot reach satellites can also be intercepted by spy balloons, according to The New York Times.
In response to questions asked by The New York Times, former CIA intelligence officer and current senior fellow at the Global China Hub of the Atlantic Council, John K. Culver, stated:
“Data collected by balloons flying over the U.S. or our allies and partners in the Western Pacific may also be valuable for Chinese missile forces by expanding and enhancing their targeting knowledge and knowledge of atmospheric conditions.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has claimed the balloon that entered U.S. airspace was in fact a commercially-owned weather balloon that had gone “far from its planned course” and the top official of the Chinese weather service was fired, CNN reported.
On Thursday, the U.S. House voted unanimously in favor of a resolution condemning China for its alleged espionage operation, AP News reported.
“This resolution, I believe, sends a clear bipartisan signal to the [Chinese government] and our adversaries around the world that this action will not be tolerated,” stated Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), per The Washington Post. McCaul is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
While the bipartisan move showed a brief glimpse of national unity, much of the last week saw a bevy of incredulity over how the spy balloon made it into U.S. airspace.
Furthermore, the Biden administration faced substantial criticism for waiting so long to shoot down the balloon, despite military officials advising that debris from the balloon’s destruction could have proven deadly if it had been brought down over land, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.