The ominous balloon spotted over the US is a “civilian airship” which had deviated from its planned route, China has said.
China’s foreign ministry broke its silence on Friday over the balloon that the US suspected was conducting surveillance.
It said it was a civilian “airship” used for meteorological research and due to its limited steering capability, it had “deviated far from its planned course” after being blown off course.
Beijing added it regretted it had blown off its course.
While defence officials said the balloon’s current flight path carries it over “a number of sensitive” military sites, it is believed that US President Joe Biden decided against shooting it out of the sky due to risks of falling debris.
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Getty Images)
It was first spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday which is very close to one of the US’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
The balloon is still in US airspace but officials declined to say where it is now.
Prior to that, it had flown over the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of Alaska and through Canada.
The balloon is “the size of three buses” and has a visible “technology bay”, US media reported, including solar panels to power the surveillance device.
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CHASE DOAK/AFP via Getty Images)
Alexander Neill, an analyst at Hawaii’s Pacific Forum think tank, said the balloon’s intelligence gathering was likely limited, suggesting its real intention may be more political.
“China has its own constellation of spy and military satellites that are far more important and effective in terms of watching the US, so I think it is a fair assumption that the intelligence gain is not huge,” Mr Neill said to the Telegraph.
The Chinese statement read: “Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course.
“The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure.”
It also said it would continue to communicate with the US side.