United States NOT to return balloon debris to China
By Vipin Vijayan | First Published Feb 7, 2023, 9:29 AM ISTAccording to White House officials, the surveillance balloon violated international law and its sovereignty. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there is no intention or plan to return it.
The United States has refused to return the debris of the surveillance balloon, which was shot down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, to China.
The United States military has recovered some remnants off the surface of the sea, and they are still pushing to collect the rest of the debris from underwater quickly. The balloon crisscrossed over the United States airspace for several days before being shot down. The balloon was shot down over water after the US military commanders determined that there was an undue risk of debris causing harm to civilians while the balloon was over land in Alaska, Canada, or the continental United States.
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According to White House officials, the surveillance balloon violated international law and its sovereignty. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said there is no intention or plan to return it.
Enough vital information had been gathered about the balloon before it was shot down by a fighter jet, Kirby said, adding that even as the balloon was being swept along in high-altitude jet stream winds, it was not merely drifting but had propellers and steering to give a measure of control.
The balloon could manoeuvre itself, speed up and down, and turn. Kirby said it had propellers and a rudder that allowed it to change direction.
According to Northern Command Commander General Glen VanHerck, the balloon, which was up to 200 feet in height, carrying a payload roughly the size of a regional jet aircraft.
White House, meanwhile, said that the world was now witness to the irresponsible actions of Beijing. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it is up to China to show that it is serious about its words of being a responsible country that it wants to build on the meeting that the president had with President Xi very recently.
According to Jean-Pierre, President Joe Biden had directed the military and the intelligence community to learn more about China's capabilities and tradecraft by examining the debris of the balloon.
US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told media persons that Washington, DC, was not giving 'much oxygen' to what Beijing was saying about the balloon. He said that the People's Republic of China knew precisely why the balloon was in US airspace. The US, Price asserted, has taken practical steps since the time this high-altitude surveillance balloon was detected to mitigate its ability to collect intelligence against sensitive sites to mitigate any threat it could pose to the American people.
Also Read: WATCH: Here's how Chinese 'spy' balloon was shot down off Carolina coast
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