- The US Navy has released photos showing the recovery of the remains of a Chinese spy balloon shot down on the orders of President Joe Biden off South Carolina.
- The photos were taken a day after a US fighter jet fired at the 200ft-tall balloon, sending it hurtling into the Atlantic Ocean.
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Biden administration is “considering other steps that can be taken” in response to the ball, and called U.S.-China relations “tense.”
- Biden’s “decision to let the [Chinese Communist Party] The balloons traveling the length and breadth of the ‘United States’ was a display of unforgivable weakness,” said Rep. Ann Wagner, a Republican from Missouri.
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023.
Photo: US Navy
The US Navy on Tuesday released photos showing the recovery of the remains of a Chinese spy balloon shot down over the weekend on the orders of President Joe Biden off the coast of South Carolina.
The photos were taken on Sunday, a day after a US fighter jet fired at the 200ft-tall balloon, sending it hurtling into the Atlantic Ocean in a dramatic scene filmed live on television.
China claimed the balloon, which was first spotted by the public flying over Montana last Wednesday, was a wayward “civilian unmanned airship” that primarily conducted weather research.
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023.
Photo: US Navy
But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the balloon was being used by China “in an attempt to monitor strategic sites in the continental United States”.
Five Navy ships participated in the balloon debris recovery effort over a 10 square mile search area off Myrtle Beach.
The debris field was 1,500 square meters in area, according to officials, who said the balloon’s payload weighed more than a ton.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters on Tuesday that the Biden administration is “considering other steps that can be taken” in response to the ball.
Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said the current state of US-China relations was “tense”.
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023.
Photo: US Navy
After the balloon was spotted, but before it was shot down, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken canceled a planned trip to China.
During a Capitol Hill hearing, Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., said he “loves” Biden but disagreed with the days-long delay in knocking down the ball in because of the time he gave the Chinese to collect additional data and intelligence from the plane flying over the United States
In response, a witness in the hearing, former National Security Council and National Economic Council member Peter Harrell, said Blinken’s decision to postpone his trip to China is the start of a response, not the end. END.
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023.
Photo: US Navy
Representative Ann Wagner, a Republican from Missouri, said she and her family watched the balloon fly over her home state.
“President Biden’s decision to let the [Chinese Communist Party] balloons traveling back and forth in the United States of America was a display of unforgivable weakness on the world stage,” Wagner said.
“I call on the administration to restore America’s ability to deter reckless provocations. The stakes for strategic competition with China are extremely high,” she said. “And if the CCP’s influence continues to expand and go unchallenged, American communities will pay the price.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the balloon is believed to be the fifth Chinese surveillance balloon detected over the continental United States since 2017.
Kirby said three such balloons flew over the United States during the Trump administration, while there was another during Biden’s tenure in the White House in addition to the most recent one.
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023.
Photo: US Navy
Former President Donald Trump has said he was never told a Chinese balloon passed over the United States when he was in office.
Kirby said the three balloons during Trump’s tenure were not discovered until after he left office in January 2021.
— Additional CNBC reports Amanda Macias.
