Days after the United States (US) Military shot down a Chinese surveillance vessel circling vital installations in the nation, a media report claimed that China had operated a fleet of spy balloons with targets including India and Japan.
Indian officials have been informed by US officials about the discovery of the Chinese surveillance balloon that was downed by a fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean.
Wendy Sherman, the deputy Secretary of State, informed representatives from approximately 40 embassies about it on Monday in Washington, DC. ‘The surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China’s south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines,’ US media house reported on Tuesday.
The report in the media was based on conversations with a number of unnamed defence and intelligence officials. These surveillance airships, which the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) air force operates in part, have reportedly been detected over five continents, according to officials, the newspaper stated.
‘These balloons are all part of a PRC ( People’s Republic of China) fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations, which also violated the sovereignty of other countries,’ a senior defence official was quoted as saying.
In addition to the one monitored last week, at least four balloons have reportedly been seen over Hawaii, Florida, Texas, and Guam in recent years. Three of the four incidents occurred within the Trump administration, but the Chinese surveillance airships were only just discovered, it claimed.
The high-altitude surveillance balloon was recovered on Tuesday, according to a sequence of images produced by the Pentagon.
