The US is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted over US airspace for a couple days.
| The Pentagon is tracking a Chinese surveillance balloon that lingered at high altitude over the western US, home to sensitive sites including nuclear missile silos, injectingThe Chinese balloon, first spotted earlier this week, was loitering over Montana – where Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile silos are located – but posed no physical or intelligence threat, a senior Defence Department official said.
The Biden administration briefed staff for the “Gang of Eight,” a group including the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, another official said.The administration disclosed the balloon’s existence just days before Mr Blinken’s expected China trip, the first such-high-level visit to Beijing since before the coronavirus pandemic.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing have been running high, with the Biden administration becoming more explicit about its willingness to defend Taiwan in the event of a conflict. Last week, an Air Force general told his staff he believed the US and China would be at war by 2025. China, at the same time, has taken a softer tone, calling for an end to hostile rhetoric.
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