Washington [US], February 14 (ANI): White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday (local time) confirmed that the Chinese spy balloon is linked to intelligence collection. “China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection that’s connected to the People’s Liberation Army,”he said while addressing a press conference.

He said that the Chinese spy balloon program targeted the United States’ “closest allies and partners,” but provided “limited additive” intelligence collection capabilities. “We assess at this time these balloons have provided limited additive capabilities to the PRC’s other intelligence platforms used over the United States,” Kirby said at the White House briefing. “We know that these PRC surveillance balloons have crossed over dozens of countries including some of our allies and partners. We assessed that at this time these balloons have provided limited value to PRC’s other intelligence platforms but could become more valuable in future,” added Kirby.

He also confirmed that the US does not yet know who owns the recently shot-down unidentified objects. Kirby also said that the same spy balloon programme was in operation during Donald Trump‘s Presidency, but his administration was not able to detect them like the Biden administration.
“It was operating during the previous administration but they did not detect it. We detected it. We tracked it,” said the US NSC spokesperson while taking credit for finding the spy balloon.
Since shooting down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, the United States has shot down three more unidentified flying objects, two in US airspace and one in Canadian airspace.

Kirby said that the three new objects were much smaller than the Chinese spy balloon and that the United States was still not sure what they might be. “There is no question in our minds that that system was designed to surveil, that it was an intelligence asset,” Kirby said of the Chinese spy balloon.
“We knew exactly what that thing was. These other three didn’t have propulsion, they weren’t being maneuvered, they were basically being driven by the wind. We don’t know for sure whether they had a surveillance aspect to them but we can’t rule it out.”

Kirby said that the United States’ apparent difficulty in tracking all four objects was owed to the nature of how radar is typically used and that the nation was enhancing its capabilities based on newly gathered intelligence. “Slow-moving objects at high altitude with a small radar cross section are difficult to detect on radar, even objects as large as the Chinese spy balloon,” Kirby said.
Kirby also vehemently rejected a Beijing accusation Monday that it had flown more than 10 high-altitude balloons over China. “We are not flying surveillance balloons over China. I am not aware of any other craft that we are flying over into Chinese airspace,” said the US NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications. He defended the decision to shoot down the three most recent objects despite the government not knowing what they were because they potentially posed a threat to civilian air traffic as they were flying at a similar altitude to many planes The isolated and harsh conditions in the places they were shot down are hampering efforts to find debris to analyze, with the most recent of them likely in deep water in Lake Huron. (ANI)

US blacklists 6 Chinese companies for “spy balloon” episode

As part of its response to a Chinese spy balloon that traversed US airspace last week, the Joe Biden administration on Friday (local time) clamped down on sales of some of its technology to several Chinese aviation and technology companies, reported The New York Times (NYT). The Commerce Department added five Chinese companies and one research institute to its so-called entity list, which will prevent companies from selling them American parts and technologies without a special license.

Alan Estevez, the undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, said the action directly responded to the Chinese government’s use of high-altitude balloons for surveillance, reported NYT. “Today’s action makes clear that entities that seek to harm US national security and sovereignty will be cut off from accessing US technologies,” he said.

The spy balloon’s flyover from Alaska to South Carolina captured the attention of regular Americans and officials, before the US military shot it down off the country’s east coast on Saturday.
“The (People’s Republic of China’s) use of high-altitude balloons violates our sovereignty and threatens US national security,” said Estevez in a statement on Friday.

The six companies include Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology Co; China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute; and Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology Co.
The other three are Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co.; Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology Co.; along with Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co.

The restrictions mark the Biden administration’s first economic retaliation over the balloon. The administration has registered chiefly its anger through diplomatic channels, including the cancellation of a trip by the secretary of state to Beijing.

Republicans had condemned the administration for not responding more forcefully, including by not shooting the balloon down before it moved out to sea. The White House said it was following the advice of the Pentagon, which feared the debris could hurt people on the ground.

The Chinese government has tried to downplay the incident, arguing that the balloon was a civilian device for monitoring the weather. The Commerce Department did not specify whether the companies and the institute had played a direct role in developing or operating the balloon that flew across the United States. But the Biden administration said earlier this week that it would consider taking action against any entities that had aided the balloon’s flight, reported NYT.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the US government shot down another unidentified object near Alaska. It was not immediately clear which country or company was responsible for it. (ANI)