US admits downed Chinese balloon did not gather intelligence
[ad_1]
The Chinese aircraft that the US military shot down over its territory in February did not collect intelligence information. This was announced on Thursday, June 29, by US Department of Defense spokesman Patrick Ryder.
The Pentagon spokesman said the agency was aware of the potential for reconnaissance at the downed balloon, but did not carry out this activity during the flight over the territory of the United States.
The downed Chinese balloon twice caused an aggravation of relations between Washington and Beijing. The first time this happened was when China was outraged by the statements of the United States that China had launched a “spy balloon”, and then US President Joe Biden spoke out on this issue, calling the Chinese leader a dictator.
The head of the White House said that the reason why the Chinese leader was “very upset” when the United States shot down “aerostat with spy equipment”, was that Xi Jinping did not know that the balloon was there. And he added that “it is a great shame for dictators – when they do not know what happened.”
At the same time, the American media wrote that the balloon that flew over the United States at the beginning of the year was equipped with American made equipmentwhich allows you to collect photos, videos and other information.
[ad_2]
Source link
