US says no indication 3 downed aerial objects were Chinese or espionage

Washington:

The White House said Tuesday that the United States still has no evidence that three unidentified aerial objects downed this month were linked to China or any foreign spying program.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, “US officials have not yet seen any indication or anything that specifically points to the idea that these three objects were part of the PRC’s spy balloon program or She was certainly involved in outside intelligence gathering efforts.” told reporters, using the official acronym of the Chinese state.

Kirby said the three objects — two over the United States and one over Canada — “may have been balloons that were only tied to commercial or research entities and therefore benign.”

That “may emerge as a major explanation here,” he said.

However, Kirby insisted that China is running a “well-funded, deliberate program” of using high-altitude, difficult-to-detect balloons to spy on the United States and other countries.

According to US officials, one such balloon was shot down over the US East Coast on 4 February – an event that raised the alert, after which three unidentified objects were shot down as a precaution.

Beijing denies using spy balloons and says the huge craft shot down off the coast was for weather research.

Tough conditions have made it difficult for teams sent to search the wreckage to get to the bottom of the three mystery objects, according to the Pentagon and the White House.

Citing “pretty difficult” weather and topographic conditions in all three cases, Kirby said, “We are anticipating that it may take some time to locate and recover the wreckage.”

“We haven’t found them yet,” he said.

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