Ashish Ranjan
On the day an American warplane shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, Beijing turned down a request for a secure contact between Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and his counterpart, a US Department of Defense spokesperson said Tuesday.
Brigadier General Pat Ryder, referring to the People’s Republic of China, said in a statement, “On Saturday, 4 February, immediately after balloon downing the PRC balloon, the DOD submitted a request for a secure call between Secretary Austin and PRC Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe.
“Sadly, the PRC has turned down our plea. We remain committed to maintaining open avenues of communication “Ryder included
Washington has referred to the balloon as a highly developed high-altitude spying vehicle, whilst China claims it was an errant weather observation aircraft without any military intent.
A fighter jet shot down the balloon on Saturday as it gently crossed the middle of the country and, according to reports, passed over a number of top-secret military locations.
In an effort to defuse tensions following a visit by Nancy Pelosi, the then-speaker of the House, that infuriated China, Austin and Wei met in Cambodia last November.
However, the balloon downing incident has increased tensions, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has decided to cancel a rare trip to Beijing.
President Joe Biden defended the choice to wait until the balloon crossed the country before bringing it down on Monday, saying the Defense Department determined that doing so over water was the best option.
The same day, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said steps had been taken to ensure that the spying capabilities of the balloon’s instruments were “mitigated” during the flyover, while “at the same time increasing and improving our ability to collect intelligence and information from it.”
The debris field left behind by the balloon, which is anticipated to measure around 1,500 by 1,500 metres (yards) in the Atlantic, will be mapped by a military ship, according to General Glen VanHerck, chief of the US Northern Command.
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He added the payload, which was around the size of a regional jet aircraft and weighed several thousand pounds, was carried by a balloon that could reach a height of 200 feet (60 metres).
The balloon debris, according to VanHerck, will be carefully examined.
I don’t know where the debris will go for a final analysis, but I can assure you that the intelligence community and the law enforcement community who work on this under counterintelligence will look at it carefully, he said.
