OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Pentagon on Friday announced that defense officials are tracking another Chinese spy balloon that is loitering over Latin America. The statement came after U.S. officials said they were tracking one over the continental United States a day earlier.
“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told Fox News Friday evening. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.”
Earlier in the day, the Pentagon responded after China insisted that a spy balloon U.S. defense officials were tracking over Montana had drifted off course and could not be maneuvered.
“The balloon is maneuverable,” Ryder said to reporters. “It violated the law. We communicated that to China.”
He said that shooting down the balloon “was taken into consideration,” but “because we assessed that currently, it does not pose a psychical or military risk to people on the ground, for now, we are continuing to monitor and review options.”
“What we’re not gonna do is get into an hour-by-hour location of the balloon,” the spokesman said.
“Does the public not have the right to know…?” a reporter said before the spokesman gave his most glib answer.
“The public certainly has the ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is,” he said.
REPORTER: "Does the public not have the right to know…?"
PENTAGON: "The public certainly has the ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is." pic.twitter.com/3mLU3BQTRQ
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 3, 2023
Also Friday, a Chinese government official admitted that the balloon was theirs but claimed it was not meant to enter United States airspace, Fox News reported.
“The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. “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. The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure,” the spokesperson said.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), one of the so-called “Gang of Eight” in the House and Senate who are privy to the highest levels of classified briefings, has called for one on the matter.
“China’s brazen disregard for U.S. sovereignty is a destabilizing action that must be addressed, and President Biden cannot be silent,” he said on Twitter. “I am requesting a Gang of Eight briefings.”
China’s brazen disregard for U.S. sovereignty is a destabilizing action that must be addressed, and President Biden cannot be silent.
I am requesting a Gang of Eight briefing. https://t.co/KarTCUzbOS
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) February 3, 2023
Ryder announced the detection of the balloon on Thursday.
“The United States Government has detected and is tracking a high altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now. The U.S. government, to include NORAD, continues to track and monitor it closely. The balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground. Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years. Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” he said.
Other Republican lawmakers also weighed in on what they thought of the situation.
“Biden should shoot down the Chinese spy balloon immediately. President Trump would have never tolerated this. President Trump would have never tolerated many things happening to America,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said on Twitter.
“Under Biden: Pentagon tracks Chinese Spy Balloon for days over US & does NOT shoot it down. Abandons Americans & $85 billion in US military equipment & arms in Afghanistan. Won’t secure our border- 5+ million people invade. The Biden admin is impotent,” she added.
“I know I was just named to the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday but I’m going to go out on a limb and say we shouldn’t have a Chinese spy balloon floating over the United States of America. Take it down,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) noted as well.
“The only thing to conclude is the CCP must have so much on the Biden family, this administration will not react to any of the CCP provocations. Cancelled the China initiative, soft on IP theft, COVID 19 origins no questions whatsoever about it and now this,” Fox News host Maria Bartiromo noted as well.
