Antony Blinken delays trip, as China claims balloon was for ‘meteorological’ purposes and was blown off course
, home to some of the country’s nuclear missile force. US defence officials described it as a surveillance balloon. Joe Biden was alerted and asked for military options, but it was decided that shooting it down could pose a threat from debris to people on the ground.
Asked about the Chinese weather balloon explanation, the Pentagon spokesman, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, said: “We are aware of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] statement. However, the fact is we know that it’s a surveillance balloon.” “I’m also confident we’ll continue to maintain constant contact with our Chinese counterparts as we work to manage this in the most responsible and expeditious fashion possible,” the official said.“The balloon itself is a big target,” the state-backed nationalistic tabloid the Global Times wrote in English on Twitter, which is banned in China.
The Canadian government summoned China’s ambassador on Thursday to explain the incident, the foreign ministry in Ottawa said.
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