The United States has acknowledged it! Airship | China | United States
According to reports from Agence France Presse and Reuters, the US Pentagon stated on June 29th local time that the so-called "Chinese reconnaissance balloon" shot down by US fighter jets over the Atlantic in February this year did not collect US intelligence when passing through or flying over the United States. Regarding the Chinese unmanned airship incident, China has repeatedly responded clearly, stating that the accidental entry of Chinese civilian unmanned airships into US airspace is entirely a force majeure event.
According to AFP, Pentagon spokesperson Pat Rider stated that "our current assessment is that it did not collect intelligence when passing through or flying over the United States." He also claimed that the United States "took countermeasures" to reduce "the collection of intelligence by the atmosphere," and "this effort contributes to this.". The report stated that he did not provide further explanation.
According to Reuters, an earlier report by NBC on April 3rd once again fueled the Chinese unmanned airship incident. The report quoted two current senior US officials and a former senior US official as exaggerating that despite the US government's efforts to prevent it, the "Chinese balloon" can still transmit data back to Beijing in real time. But Reuters later mentioned that the White House and Pentagon publicly told reporters on the 3rd that they could not confirm this claim from American media. The Pentagon claims that experts are still analyzing the fragments collected after the balloon was shot down on February 4th.
![The United States has acknowledged it! Airship | China | United States](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/0e62a092212ddb0b9a85918fc77efcd8.jpg)
According to previous reports, on February 2nd local time, US Department of Defense officials claimed that a "suspected Chinese reconnaissance balloon" had been flying over the United States for several days, and the United States had tracked it. Although the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly clarified that the airship came from China and was civilian in nature, used for meteorological and other scientific research. Due to force majeure, it accidentally entered the United States due to the influence of the westerly belt. However, the US government still used force to shoot down the civilian unmanned airship. On February 5th, Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Xie Feng, on behalf of the Chinese government, made solemn representations to the head of the US Embassy in China regarding the incident.
Former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, Xie Feng, stated that the accidental entry of Chinese civilian unmanned airships into US airspace was entirely caused by force majeure, and the facts are clear and cannot be distorted or smeared. But the US side ignored it and insisted on using excessive force against civilian airships that were about to leave US airspace, which clearly overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practices. The actions of the United States have seriously impacted and damaged the efforts and processes of both sides to stabilize China US relations since the Bali meeting. China firmly opposes and strongly protests against this, and urges the United States not to take further action to harm China's interests, and not to escalate or escalate tensions. The Chinese government is closely monitoring the development of the situation and will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, defend Chinese interests and dignity, and reserve the right to make further necessary responses.