The case is emptying. While the United States shot down three high-flying ships between Friday and last Sunday, “there is no indication at this time that they were connected to the Chinese spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from another country,” Joe Biden said on Thursday from the White House.
The US President explained that after the Chinese balloon incursion, “our military closely monitored our airspace” and detected these objects that posed a potential threat to civil aviation and ordered them removed.
But according to the partial findings of US intelligence, “these three objects were likely balloons related to private businesses, hobbies, or research institutes studying the weather or conducting scientific research,” Biden said. Operations are currently underway to salvage debris. The traffic with these objects has not increased either, the American President specified: They were simply discovered because the American army “took measures to improve (their) radar devices”.
Biden wants to speak to Xi
“We don’t want a new Cold War” and “will continue to talk to China,” said the US President in a short speech. “I hope I can speak to President Xi and get to the bottom of this matter, but I don’t apologize for crashing that balloon,” he added. “If a (flying) object threatens the safety of Americans, I will have it shot down,” the American President insisted.
The United States destroyed a Chinese balloon on February 4 it believes was conducting a spy mission. Then on February 10, 11 and 12 they shot down “objects” that have not yet been identified. Joe Biden ordered the last three demolition operations in the name of aviation security, which the White House said could have been endangered by these “objects” flying at altitudes close to those of airplanes.
In the face of numerous questions, the White House had made it clear that there was “no evidence of extraterrestrial activity”.