US Navy divers working to recover debris of Chinese ‘spy’ balloon that was shot down
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The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – United States Navy divers were working to locate debris from the Chinese “spy” balloon that a US fighter jet shot down about 10km off the coast of South Carolina,
The recovery effort, which is expected to take days, began not long after debris from the balloon hit the water, a defence official said. He added that a Navy ship arrived on the scene soon after the balloon was shot down, and that other Navy and Coast Guard ships, which had been put on alert, were also sent to the scene.
The shooting down of the balloon capped a remarkable week of high-stakes international drama, played out over the skies of the continental US. While China insisted that the balloon was not for surveillance, but rather a weather balloon that drifted off course,
On Saturday, President Joe Biden said he had told Pentagon officials to shoot down the balloon, and that they “said to me, let’s wait until the safest place to do it.”
Pentagon officials said they took steps – without giving details – to make sure that the balloon did not yield much fruit as it hovered near Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and other installations. They also said China could glean the same amount of intelligence from a spy satellite.
Nonetheless, the incident turned into a full-fledged diplomatic quarrel between the world’s two great powers, with Mr Biden’s administration officials calling their Chinese counterparts and Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelling what was to be the first trip to China by a Biden Cabinet secretary.
Pentagon officials made clear that they plan to collect every piece of debris that Navy divers can retrieve for intelligence purposes. As the balloon was shot down in relatively shallow water, they believe that the recovery effort will not be difficult.
Still, Navy divers have to contend with cold water temperatures during the recovery effort. The defence official said that once all the debris is collected, the Pentagon will hand it over to be studied by various federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers questioned how the balloon was allowed to pass over the US, with Republicans blaming Mr Biden for not acting sooner.
“We should have shot this balloon down over the Aleutians instead of letting it float across middle America on its merry way,” Senator Tom Cotton or Arkansas, who sits on the Intelligence Committee, said on Fox News Sunday.
“The idea that we were going to let this go all across America, a spy balloon complete its spy mission, before we shot it down, I’m afraid is an embarrassment to the United States, not an embarrassment to the Chinese.”
Republicans criticised Mr Biden for not alerting the public about the balloon sooner. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, called it a “dereliction of duty”.
“I think there’s a lot of answers for the administration to provide the American people,” said Mr Cotton. NYTIMES
