Ontario: The Pentagon has claimed to have spotted an alleged Chinese spy balloon the size of “three buses” on US airspace. These ballons flew over the Canada airspace. Following this, Canadian agencies along with America are investigating the matter together.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his diplomatic visit to China scheduled for the weekend.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters, “The US government has seen a spy balloon flying over the country’s airspace. North America Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is constantly scaling the foot of this balloon and it is being closely monitored.
The balloon, which was spotted in Montana’s airspace on Thursday, is “the size of three buses”.
Ryder said the US government has acted promptly to prevent the collection of sensitive information. The spokesman said the balloon was flying far above the height set for commercial air traffic and did not appear to be a threat to US forces or people on the ground.
A senior defence official said US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the entire incident and the Pentagon is considering several other options.
“At present, we believe that this balloon has limited traction from the perspective of intelligence gathering,” a defence official said. But still, we are taking steps to prevent sensitive information from going to any other country.”