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Chinese spy balloon – live: Trump takes credit for attention on China threats as Navy reveals shot-down debris

The first images from a US Navy operation to recover debris from a shot-down Chinese surveillance balloon show pieces of the craft being pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean.

US military officials have reported that similar balloons traveled across parts of the US during Donald Trump’s presidency, with an Air Force document detailing how surveillance balloons from China “circumnavigated the globe” in 2019.

The former president dismissed the Pentagon’s claims that there were three separate incidents during his presidency, saying Beijing had “too much respect” for him to have carried out such activity. He also took credit for nation’s attention on China, claiming he was “the first person” who “strongly and brilliantly stated” such threats.

President Joe Biden defended his administration’s response as divers on Monday began recovering debris from the sea where the balloon was shot down on Saturday by a US fighter jet.

“We’ve made it clear to China what we’re going to do,” the president said. “They understand our position. We’re not going to back off, we did the right thing.”

Key Points

  • First images of Chinese spy balloon debris pulled from Atlantic Ocean released by US Navy

  • China ‘spy’ balloons floated over Hawaii and Florida during Trump’s presidency, documents show

  • Trump says he ‘strongly and brilliantly stated’ threats from China in 2015

  • Biden defends downing balloon: ‘Did the right thing’

  • What we know about balloons reportedly flown during Trump era

China accuses Biden of ‘smearing’ nation in SOTU

10:43 , Rachel Sharp

China has reacted furiously to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address where he made reference to the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic on Saturday.

During Tuesday night’s speech, Mr Biden said that the US wants to “seek competition, not conflict” with China but warned that “if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country”.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded to his comments at a daily briefing on Wednesday, accusing the US of trying “to smear” the nation.

“It is not the practice of a responsible country to smear a country or restrict the country’s legitimate development rights under the excuse of competition, even at the expense of disrupting the global industrial and supply chain,” she said.

She added that the US should work with China to “promote the return of bilateral relations to a track of sound and stable development”.

ICYMI: First images of Chinese spy balloon debris pulled from Atlantic Ocean released by US Navy

10:00 , Alex Woodward

New images released by the US Navy show the debris from a destroyed Chinese spy balloon being pulled from the water in the Atlantic Ocean.

The photographs are dated 5 February, the day after the balloon was downed by a US Fair Force F-22 Raptor jet.

The images are the first close-up look at the object that Pentagon officials described as a “high-altitude surveillance balloon” that was discovered travelling over sensitive US military sites last week.

First images of Chinese spy balloon debris being recovered are released by Navy

‘Make no mistake, the Chinese spy balloon incident cannot be ignored'

09:00 , Alex Woodward

Skylar Baker-Jordan writes for The Independent’s Voices:

This is not just a rivalry between two nations, but two competing ideologies – that of a free and open society verses a repressive and closed state. It isn’t even communist verses capitalist, or left verses right in the way Americans are used to thinking. It is liberty verses tyranny, democracy verses autocracy.

Make no mistake, the Chinese spy balloon incident cannot be ignored | Voices

Spy balloon videos dominated TikTok. Why didn’t China stop them?

08:00 , Alex Woodward

Republicans have wrapped the Chinese surveillance balloon into GOP talking points taking aim at the popular social media app TikTok, national security and the Biden administration’s relationship to China.

TikTok appeared to be directing users towards the #chinesespyballoon hashtag even while the Chinese Communist Party was still insisting it was an errant weather balloon.

Spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter pushed back on claims that the app was in anyway comparable to the surveillance balloon in a statement to The Independent.

“There is absolutely no connection between these two things. Anyone suggesting there is should not be taken seriously on matters of national security.”

Spy balloon videos dominated TikTok. Why didn’t China stop them?

How the Chinese spy balloon was caught

07:00 , Alex Woodward

On Monday, US officials said that improvements ordered by President Joe Biden to strengthen defenses against Chinese espionage helped identify last week’s spy balloon — and determine that similar flights were conducted at multiple points during the Trump administration.

The Associated Press reports:

How the Chinese spy balloon was caught

ICYMI: White House explains how China has spent years developing surveillance programme

04:00 , Alex Woodward

The suspected Chinese espionage airship that was downed by an American F-22 fighter on Saturday was targeting “sensitive military sites” as part of a program that has been known to US officials for a number of years, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a briefing on Monday that China’s claim that the airship was a civilian craft sent aloft for climate study purposes “strains credulity”, and said US officials have known that the Chinese military had “a measure of control” over the speed and direction of the balloon, which was surveilling “sensitive military sites” in the US.

Mr Kirby said China’s use of balloons for espionage was “not a new programme” and instead is something “they’ve been working on for many years” that China has “tried to improve in terms of capability, range [and] communications”.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington:

White House explains what the Chinese spy balloon was watching

No, the US can’t ‘scoop’ the balloon out of the air, congressman says

02:00 , Alex Woodward

Newt Gingrich claimed that the US had “plenty of capacity” to “scoop” the balloon out of US airspace before it was shot down on Saturday, something he said the US used to do “all the time”.

US Rep Ted Lieu, who was an active-duty servicemember with the US Air Force, poured water on those claims.

“Having served on active duty, I know for a fact the US does not have a balloon scooper aircraft,” he said. “Newt Gingrich, who never served in the military, has no idea what he is talking about. Also, unlike the Trump Administration, the Biden Administration shot down the CCP balloon.”

GOP House Oversight chair forced to admit his ‘bioweapon’ suggestion is not based in any evidence

01:00 , Alex Woodward

Republican House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer floated, without evidence, on Fox News, that the downed Chinese surveillance balloon brought down by the US military on Saturday may have contained “bioweapons” from Wuhan, invoking a lab-leak theory that has consumed right-wing discourse.

When he appeared on CNN on Tuesday, he was grilled about his baseless remarks and forced to admit that he did not have any evidence on which to base his question.

“But you don’t have any evidence that this balloon contained bioweapons,” host Kaitlan Collins asked after quoting his remarks in full.

“I asked a question,” he replied. “What was in the balloon? Was it a spy balloon? Was it a weather balloon like China said? What exactly did the US military know about this? What did our intelligence know about this? Did they know it was even in our space before it got into Alaska airspace?”

Even as he continued to float the evidence-free idea that the balloon contained a weapon, he invoked similar demands from other GOP officials who wanted the Biden administration to shoot down the balloon while it was still above the US.

Lawmakers will be briefed on the balloon incident this week. Ms Collins asked whether Mr Comer will “come out and make that clear publicy” that the balloon did not contain a weapon after that briefing.

“Sure. Absolutely,” he replied. “But I never said it was. I said for all we know, it had bioweapons in it. We don’t know anything about the balloon.”

Former Navy official ‘concerned’ by Pentagon’s inability to detect previous balloons

00:00 , Alex Woodward

Retired Admiral Harry Harris Jr, the former head of US Pacific Command, shared his concerns about the Pentagon’s apparent shortcomings in detecting previous spy balloons with the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

He said there is a “disconnect in our ability to understand these balloons.”

“That ought to concern all of us,” he added.

The Biden administration has reported at least four other previous balloon sightings in recent years as part of China’s apparent years-long surveillance programme, including several times during the Trump administration.

Mr Harris said that the US acted appropriately by shooting it down on Saturday but added that “it it was a threat to the United States, if it was collecting information that could not be blocked … then that’s a different issue.”

GOP conference chair claims Biden’s response to balloon incident led to ‘crisis in America’

Tuesday 7 February 2023 23:30 , Alex Woodward

In remarks on Tuesday as the GOP prepares to respond to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik demanded that the president “answer for his failed leadership,” pointing to the US-Mexico border, inflation, and “a ballon from communist China entering the United States sovereign airspace.”

“Joe Biden has caused a crisis in America,” she said.

She called his response – which included shooting down the balloon, which his GOP critics demanded that he do – an “abysmal failure” in comments to Fox News, echoing other right-wing personalities who have relied on the balloon incident to amplify their anti-China agenda and contempt for the administration.

ICYMI: Watch the moment an F-22 Raptor jet shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon

Tuesday 7 February 2023 22:45 , Alex Woodward

Marjorie Taylor Greene is bringing a balloon to Biden’s State of the Union address

Tuesday 7 February 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward

Far-right US Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wants to bring a white balloon to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

She is among Republican lawmakers who have used the spy balloon incident to amplify their ongoing contempt for the president and the administration’s approach to China, despite Mr Biden ordering military officials to shoot down the balloon, which a US Air Force F-22 fighter jet brought down over the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.

Biden administration officials spent the last several days detailing what intelligence they’ve uncovered and explaining why it was too dangerous to shoot down the balloon until the potential debris field was clear and over water. The president had even asked to shoot it down sooner before military officials advised to wait until it was out of harm’s way.

But Ms Greene and other right-wing personalities are asking why it wasn’t brought down sooner, baselessly suggesting that the president “allowed” China to gather intelligence about the US.

Ms Greene, who is supporting Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign for president, has not commented on military reports that similar Chinese balloons were discovered above the US during his administration.

The Independent’s Graig Graziosi has more:

Marjorie Taylor Greene takes large balloon into State of the Union to troll Biden

Trump says he ‘strongly and brilliantly stated’ threats from China in 2015

Tuesday 7 February 2023 21:30 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump, who had a bank account in China and paid more in taxes to foreign governments than he did to the US his first year in office, claimed that he brought attention to Chinese threats “way back in 2015” when he launched his first serious presidential campaign.

“So much talk now about the threat of China,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday. “Question: Who was the first person, way back in 2015, and before, that brought China to the attention of ALL, with many refusing to accept what was being so strongly and brilliantly stated? Why, surprise, it was Donald J Trump, of course!”

He said that the US “can have a great relationship with China, but it has to be one of MUTUAL respect.”

“Right now they have ZERO respect for the USA, two years ago it was at record levels!” he added.

Military officials have revealed that several Chinese balloon sightings were reported during the Trump administration. They were not shot down.

Balloon incident won’t derail Biden’s State of the Union address or his upcoming remarks on China

Tuesday 7 February 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward

 (REUTERS)
(REUTERS)

President Joe Biden will discuss the nation’s relationship with China during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, though she did not provide specifics about the nature of those remarks.

The US, however, will keep “open lines of communication” with China in the fallout from the balloon incident, she told reporters at the White House on Monday.

She said it is “up to China to figure out what kind of relationship they want” in its wake.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s postponed trip to China, which was shelved in the midst of the surveillance balloon discovery, will be “back on the books” when time permits, Ms Jean-Pierre said.

President Biden also told reporters on Monday afternoon that the recent incident will not change his speech plans.

“I want to talk to the American people and let them know the state of affairs –what’s going on, what I’m looking forward to working on from this point on, what we’ve done, and just have a conversation with the American people,” he said.

How the Chinese spy balloon was caught

Tuesday 7 February 2023 20:17 , Alex Woodward

US officials say that efforts ordered by President Joe Biden to strengthen defenses against Chinese espionage helped identify last week’s spy balloon — and determine that similar flights were conducted at multiple points during the Trump administration.

Here’s how:

How the Chinese spy balloon was caught

Navy images give up-close look of balloon debris

Tuesday 7 February 2023 19:21 , Alex Woodward

Photgraphs published by the US Navy provide the first up-close images of the downed balloon, which military officials say was roughly 200-feet tall and weighed hundreds of pounds.

 (EPA)
(EPA)
 (EPA)
(EPA)
 (EPA)
(EPA)

Spy balloon videos dominated TikTok. Why didn’t China stop them?

Tuesday 7 February 2023 18:30 , Alex Woodward

The popularity and immediacy of balloon-lreated clips reflect TikTok’s extraordinary reach and ability for its users to capture breaking news events even more nimbly than dedicated networks.

It also suggests that the platform’s mysterious algorithm was directing users towards the #chinesespyballoon content – even while Chinese authorities insisted the balloon was a civilian craft that drifted off course and accused US authorities of violating international accords.

Spy balloon videos dominated TikTok. Why didn’t China stop them?

Skylar Baker-Jordan: ‘Make no mistake, the Chinese spy balloon incident cannot be ignored'

Tuesday 7 February 2023 18:00 , Alex Woodward

This is not just a rivalry between two nations, but two competing ideologies – that of a free and open society verses a repressive and closed state. It isn’t even communist verses capitalist, or left verses right in the way Americans are used to thinking. It is liberty verses tyranny, democracy verses autocracy.

Make no mistake, the Chinese spy balloon incident cannot be ignored | Voices

China shot down a spy balloon over its own territory and made a documentary about it

Tuesday 7 February 2023 17:30 , Alex Woodward

Chinese authorities accused the US of violating international law and using “indiscriminate use of force” for shooting down one of the country’s surveillance balloons off the coast of South Carolina after it cruised across the US for several days.

But China also aired a documentary about its own authorities shooting down a balloon, CNN reports.

China state media footage appeared to corroborate US claims that Chinese authorities has been developing a robust high-altitude surveillance craft programme for several years, with clips showing Chinese officials discussing unmanned balloons and outlining their flight path.

Republicans use Chinese balloon incident to take on TikTok

Tuesday 7 February 2023 17:00 , Alex Woodward

Republican US Rep Matt Gaetz wants to “blow up” TikTok next after the US shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon, which has been wrapped into GOP talking points taking aim at the popular social media app, China, national security and the Biden administration.

“Let’s shut them all down,” said Republican senator Mitt Romney.

In an interview with NBC News, Republican US Rep Mario Diaz-Balart called TikTok “basically a Chinese Communist Party balloon in everybody’s home.”

“It’s just a further reminder that the Chinese communist regime is an existential threat to the United States,” he added.

Just in: First images of Chinese spy balloon debris pulled from Atlantic Ocean released by US Navy

Tuesday 7 February 2023 16:45 , Alex Woodward

New images released by the US Navy show the debris from a destroyed Chinese spy balloon being pulled from the water in the Atlantic Ocean.

The images are the first close-up look at the object that Pentagon officials described as a “high-altitude surveillance balloon” that was discovered travelling over sensitive US military sites last week.

First images of Chinese spy balloon debris being recovered are released by Navy

Everything we know about Chinese surveillance balloons during Trump’s presidency

Tuesday 7 February 2023 16:15 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden’s administration and senior military officials revealed that similar crafts had flown above the US in previous years, including at least three times during the Trump administration, as part of what national security officials have described as a years-long Chinese global surveillance programme.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, has “reached out to key officials from the previous administration and offered them briefings on the forensics we did” on those previous Chinese operations, according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

“We did this in good faith,” he told reporters on Monday. “I can’t speak to what awareness there was in the previous administration … I can tell you that we discovered these flights after we came into office.”

What we know about Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

ICYMI: New details reveal how China ‘spy’ balloons floated over Hawaii and Florida under Trump’s watch

Tuesday 7 February 2023 15:30 , Alex Woodward

A newly unveiled US military document that is not in the public domain has revealed how China has allegedly been operating large balloons to traverse several parts of the world.

The report, dated April 2022 and partially accessed by CNN, stated damning accounts of how Chinese balloons “circumnavigated the globe” in 2019.

The US Air Force document said such craft had “drifted past Hawaii” and “across Florida” President Donald Trump’s administration.

New details reveal how China balloons floated over Hawaii and Florida under Trump

China vows to ‘safeguard rights and interests’

Tuesday 7 February 2023 14:45 , Joe Sommerlad

China has said today that it will “resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests” over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon by the US, as relations between the two countries deteriorate further.

Here’s the very latest.

China vows to ‘safeguard interests’ as sky balloon tensions with US escalate

Joe Biden says ‘we did the right thing’ in shooting down rogue balloon

Tuesday 7 February 2023 14:00 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden said that the latest balloon incident does not weaken the US-China relationship, after an American fighter jet shot down a Chinese surveillance ballon that traveled above the US for several days before hovering above the coast of South Carolina.

“We’ve made it clear to China what we’re going to do,” he told reporters outside the White House on Monday.

“They understand our position. We’re not going to back off, we did the right thing,” he said. “It’s not a question of weakening or strengthening, it’s just the reality.”

The president asked for military options to down the balloon last week when the Pentagon first alerted the White House of its presence. Military officials advised against shooting it down as it posed no physical threat and that doing so could rain down dangerous debris.

“I told the Defense Department I wanted to shoot it down as soon as it was appropriate,” he told reporters on Monday. “They concluded we should not shoot it over land, it was not a serious threat, and we should wait until it got across the water.”

By Wednesday, the president directed the Pentagon to find a way to shoot down the balloon as soon as it was safely above territorial waters.

On Saturday, the president said “we’re going to take care of it” and, shortly after, a US Air Force F-22 jet shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

Asked on Monday why he believed China would send a balloon over the US, the president laughed, adding “because they’re the Chinese government”.

 (AP)
(AP)

Biden to address US relationship with China in State of the Union address

Tuesday 7 February 2023 13:15 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden will discuss the nation’s relationship with China during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, though she did not provide specifics about the nature of those remarks.

The US, however, will keep “open lines of communication” with China in the fallout from the balloon incident, she told reporters at the White House on Monday.

She said it is “up to China to figure out what kind of relationship they want” in its wake.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s postponed trip to China, which was shelved in the midst of the surveillance balloon discovery, will be “back on the books” when time permits, Ms Jean-Pierre said.

President Biden also told reporters on Monday afternoon that he recent incident will not change his speech plans.

 (AP)
(AP)

White House ‘prepared and willing’ to brief ‘key’ Trump officials on China’s surveillance programme

Tuesday 7 February 2023 12:30 , Alex Woodward

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration and intelligence officials are “prepared” to meet with “key” officials from the Trump administration about China’s surveillance programme following the discovery of several previous balloon sightings under the former president.

“We are willing to have that conversation,” she told reporters on Monday.

Don Jr mocked for retweeting post joking that China should receive a Trump blimp

Tuesday 7 February 2023 11:45 , Joe Sommerlad

Right-wing commentators have lambasted Joe Biden for not shooting down a Chinese surveillance balloon sooner, but the former president’s oldest son took a different approach, sharing on social media that he believes in something more akin to a cultural exchange with Beijing.

On Sunday, Donald Trump Jr shared a screenshot of a tweet that said “honestly, if I were Trump, I’d be flying this beauty over Beijing by morning.”

The “beauty” referenced in the caption is shown in several photos to be the 2018 protest balloon depicting Donald Trump as a fat, snarling baby with a cellphone and a diaper.

Don Jr mocked for retweeting post joking that China should receive a Trump blimp

MTG says Biden ‘more afraid of Americans visiting their Capitol’ than spy balloon

Tuesday 7 February 2023 11:00 , Joe Sommerlad

In a dig at the president ahead of his second State of the Union address this evening, MAGA Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has attacked him over the erection of security barriers around the US Capitol.

“Joe Biden is more afraid of Americans visiting their Capitol than a Chinese Spy Balloon invading our air space that could have carried God only knows what,” the conspiracy-minded Georgia representative wrote on Twitter, striking a distinctly Trumpian note by arguing that basic security measures prove that “walls work on the ground”.

Trump says China respects him ‘too much’ to fly spy balloons during his presidency

Tuesday 7 February 2023 10:00 , Alex Woodward

China had “too much respect” for Donald Trump to fly spy balloons into US airspace as the former president rejects Pentagon’s claims that such incidents happened at least thrice during his presidency.

Writing on Truth Social, the former president called the claims “fake disinformation” while slamming the Joe Biden administration as a “disgrace”.

“China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!” he said.

Trump says China respects him ‘too much’ to fly spy balloons during his presidency

China accuses US of indiscriminate use of force over spy balloon: ‘Obviously overreacted’

Tuesday 7 February 2023 09:00 , Alex Woodward

Condemning the “US attack on a Chinese civilian unmanned airship by military force”, Chinese vice foreign minister Xie Feng said he lodged a formal complaint with the US embassy on Sunday.

The US has “turned a deaf ear and insisted on indiscriminate use of force against the civilian airship that was about to leave the United States airspace” and “obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice,” Mr Xie said on Monday.

China says US ‘obviously overreacted’ over spy balloon in a blow to bilateral ties

US military releases photos of mission to salvage debris

Tuesday 7 February 2023 08:21 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The US Navy has released photos of the operation to collect fallen debris from a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast.

The mission to collect the debris started at around 10am local time on Monday after rough waters meant it was deemed unsafe to begin on Sunday, the Department of Defense said in a statement.

The balloon fell about six miles off the coast of South Carolina into about 50ft of water, the US Navy said, adding that no one was hurt in the process.

“Precautions are being taken during the salvage operation in case explosives or toxic substances are present,” said Gen Glen VanHerck, head of US Northern Command.

Read more here.

US releases photos of mission to salvage debris from downed Chinese ‘spy’ balloon

Details reveal how China ‘spy’ balloons floated over Hawaii and Florida during Trump's tenure

Tuesday 7 February 2023 08:20 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

A US military document that is not in the public domain has revealed how China has allegedly been operating large balloons to traverse several parts of the world.

The report, dated April 2022 and partially accessed by CNN, stated damning accounts of how Chinese balloons “circumnavigated the globe” in 2019.

In a further embarrassing claim for Donald Trump, who was president at the time, the US Air Force document said such craft had “drifted past Hawaii” and “across Florida” as well.

Anuj Pant has more.

New details reveal how China balloons floated over Hawaii and Florida under Trump

What we know about Chinese spy balloons during the Trump administration

Tuesday 7 February 2023 08:00 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden’s administration and senior military officials revealed that similar crafts had flown above the US in previous years, including at least three times during former president Donald Trump’s administration, as part of what national security officials have described as a years-long Chinese global surveillance programme.

Here’s what we know about their travel, their discovery, the Trump administration’s claims and China’s response:

What we know about Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

White House explains how China has spent years developing surveillance programme

Tuesday 7 February 2023 07:00 , Alex Woodward

The suspected Chinese espionage airship that was downed by an American F-22 fighter on Saturday was targeting “sensitive military sites” as part of a program that has been known to US officials for a number of years, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a briefing on Monday that China’s claim that the airship was a civilian craft sent aloft for climate study purposes “strains credulity”, and said US officials have known that the Chinese military had “a measure of control” over the speed and direction of the balloon, which was surveilling “sensitive military sites” in the US.

Mr Kirby said China’s use of balloons for espionage was “not a new programme” and instead is something “they’ve been working on for many years” that China has “tried to improve in terms of capability, range [and] communications”.

White House explains what the Chinese spy balloon was watching

Marco Rubio criticism backfires as he learns surveillance balloons also entered US under Trump

Tuesday 7 February 2023 06:00 , Alex Woodward

ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl caught Mr Rubio – who is ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee – in an awkward moment during an interview on Sunday after Mr Biden ordered the balloon to be shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

Marco Rubio criticism of Biden on Chinese spy balloons backfires

House Intelligence committee member says US will ‘learn a lot’ from surveillance balloon

Tuesday 7 February 2023 05:00 , Alex Woodward

US Rep Jim Himes, the top-ranking Democratic lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he expects the US to “learn a lot” from the downed Chinese surveillance balloon.

“There’s a lot of value in observing an asset like this,” he told CNN on Monday.

“What did we learn by watching this thing over a period of time? When were the decisions taken? And most interestingly, what are we going to learn about the equipment, right? Who made the semiconductors that are on this thing? What are its capabilities?” he added.

He said that being able to capture “hopefully undamaged ... cutting-edge surveillance technology is just a huge intelligence win.”

What did the Trump administration know?

Tuesday 7 February 2023 04:00 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump and former Trump-era officials have rejected claims from the Biden administration about evidence of similar balloon flights under his predecessor. The former president has called the claims “disinformation”.

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNN last week hat he was “surprised” by statements that similar incidents occurred during the Trump administration. Robert O’Brien, who served as Mr Trump’s final national security adviser, also told The Wall Street Journal that he did not have any knowledge “of any incursions into US airspace” prior to or during his time in office. He also said he was not briefed on “any China issues like this”.

The latest:

What we know about Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

How did the Biden administration discover Chinese balloons from the Trump era?

Tuesday 7 February 2023 02:00 , Alex Woodward

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration was able to retroactively identify the presence of Chinese balloons in US airspace during Trump’s term after the US enhanced its “surveillance of our territorial airspace,” he said in remarks at an event hosted by the US Global Leadership Coalition, according to the Associated Press.

“We enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect,” he said.

Mr Sullivan said officials reviewed “historical patterns” to uncover “multiple instances” during the Trump administration in which similar balloons traveled through American airspace.

More on what we know about the Biden administration’s balloon forensics and how Trump-era officials have responded:

What we know about Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

Balloon over Latin America belongs to China, Beijing says

Tuesday 7 February 2023 01:00 , Alex Woodward

Chinese officials have taken ownership of an “unmanned aircraft” above Latin America.

“Due to the impact of weather and limited self-steering ability, this aircraft seriously deviated from its scheduled course,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a press conference on Monday.

The Pentagon, Colombian Air Force and Costa Rica’s Civil Aviation Authority had identified the craft as similar to the high-altitude balloon shot down by a US fighter jet on Saturday off the coast of South Carolina after it traveled across the US last week.

When asked why China had been unable to keep track of its balloons, Mao said she is “not an expert” and added that “this is not the first time that control was lost of balloons used for scientific purposes by the international community.”

Also on Monday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said that the balloon’s course above the US “was accidental and it must not be misrepresented,” urging the US not to “escalate or broaden a tense situation.”

China had ‘measure of control’ over speed and direction of balloon, White House says

Tuesday 7 February 2023 00:00 , Alex Woodward

 (REUTERS)
(REUTERS)

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby dismissed China’s claim that the balloon was a weather balloon that drifted off course.

”We know that they had a measure of control over its speed and its direction and we believe it was conducting surveillance, or potential not potential oversensitive military sites inside the United States,” he told reporters in a phone briefing on Monday.

He said China’s claim that the airship was a civilian craft used for climate study purposes “strains credulity”.

Mr Kirby also stressed that the Biden administration acted within its authority “in accordance with international law and in defense of of our homeland and of our sovereign airspace” to bring down the balloon.

“We are absolutely going to recover as much of as much of it as much of it as we can and learn from it,” he added.

Biden: ‘I told the Defense Department I wanted to shoot it down as soon as it was appropriate'

Monday 6 February 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward

 (AP)
(AP)

Addressing reporters outside the White House as he arrived on Monday, President Joe Biden stressed that it was “always my position” to shoot down the balloon, echoing White House and military officials who walked through the timeline of the response on Monday.

The president asked for military options to down the balloon last week when the Pentagon alerted the White House of its presence. Military officials advised against shooting it down as it posed no physical threat and that doing so could rain down dangerous debris.

“I told the Defense Department I wanted to shoot it down as soon as it was appropriate,” he told reporters. “They concluded we should not shoot it over land, it was not a serious threat, and we should wait until it got across the water.”

By Wednesday, the president directed the Pentagon to find a way to shoot down the balloon as soon as it was safely above territorial waters.

On Saturday, the president said “we’re going to take care of it” and, shortly after, a US Air Force F-22 jet shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

Asked on Monday why he believed China would send a balloon over the US, the president laughed, adding “because they’re the Chinese government”.

Biden: ‘We did the right thing'

Monday 6 February 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden said that the latest balloon incident does not weaken the US-China relationship, two days after an American fighter jet shot down a Chinese surveillance ballon that traveled above the US for several days before hovering above the coast of South Carolina.

“We’ve made it clear to China what we’re going to do,” he told reporters outside the White House on Monday.

“They understand our position. We’re not going to back off, we did the right thing,” he said. “It’s not a question of weakening or strengthening, it’s just the reality.”

What we know about the Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

Monday 6 February 2023 21:22 , Alex Woodward

President Biden’s administration and senior military officials revealed that similar crafts had flown above the US in previous years, including at least three times during former president Donald Trump’s administration, as part of what national security officials have described as a years-long Chinese global surveillance programme.

Those previous flights were “brief” and “nothing like we saw last week,” according to intelligence officials, but the duration of the latest flight and its potential track near sensitive military sites have raised alarms about the scale and scope of China’s intelligence operations, though it remains unclear what the motive is and what information the balloons have collected, and whether it is any different from what Chinese authorities have already acquired through satellites or other equipment.

Analysts also have suggested that the large-scale balloons, easily seen from above, sought to test what a US response would be – and how the nation’s own partisan battles could play out – after that kind of provocation.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, has reached out to key officials from the previous administration to go over their forensics work.

Here’s everything we know:

What we know about Chinese spy balloons that flew over US during Trump administration

Biden to address US relationship with China in State of the Union address

Monday 6 February 2023 20:55 , Alex Woodward

President Joe Biden will discuss the nation’s relationship with China during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, though she did not provide specifics about the nature of those remarks.

The US, however, will keep “open lines of communication” with China in the fallout from the balloon incident, she told reporters at the White House on Monday.

She said it is “up to China to figure out what kind of relationship they want” in its wake.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s postponed trip to China, which was shelved in the midst of the surveillance balloon discovery, will be “back on the books” when time permits, Ms Jean-Pierre said.

Shooting down surveillance balloon over water gave US greater chance of recovering ‘payload,’ White House says

Monday 6 February 2023 20:27 , Alex Woodward

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said shooting down the surveillance balloon over water both saved lives and gave authorities a greater chance of recovering the “payload” or contents inside of it, she told reporters on Monday.

She outlined the US military and intelligence response to the balloon over the last week including President Biden’s greenlight to take it down. A fighter jet shot it down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.

White House ‘prepared and willing’ to brief ‘key’ Trump officials on China’s surveillance programme

Monday 6 February 2023 20:18 , Alex Woodward

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administartio and intelligence officials are “prepared” to meet with “key” officials from the Trump administration about China’s surveillance programme following the discovery of several previous balloon sightings under the former president.

“We are willing to have that conversation,” she told reporters on Monday.

Spy balloons: What are they?

Monday 6 February 2023 20:00 , Alex Woodward

Don Jr mocked for retweeting post joking that China should receive a Trump blimp

Monday 6 February 2023 19:26 , Alex Woodward

Apoplectic right-wing commentators have characterised President Joe Biden as irresponsible for not shooting the balloon down earlier, while Donald Trump’s oldest son took a different approach, sharing on social media that he believes in something more akin to a cultural exchange with Beijing.

On Sunday, he shared a screenshot of a tweet that said "honestly, if I were Trump, I'd be flying this beauty over Beijing by morning."

The "beauty" referenced in the caption is shown in several photos to be the 2018 protest balloon depicting Donald Trump as a fat, snarling baby with a cellphone and a diaper.

Don Jr mocked for retweeting post joking that China should receive a Trump blimp

Pentagon did not believe balloon posed a threat after crossing into US, prompting advisory to wait on shootdown

Monday 6 February 2023 18:58 , Alex Woodward

US defense officials told reporters on Monday that they did not believe the balloon posed a physical military threat when it crossed into the US, prompting military officials to advise against shooting it down initially.

Massive balloon may have carried self-destruct explosives, military officials say

Monday 6 February 2023 18:45 , Alex Woodward

As a US Navy recovery operation is underway, General Glen David VanHerck of the United States Northern Command told reporters on Monday that the downed balloon was likely 200-feet tall and weighed several hundred pounds.

It also potentially carried explosives “to detonate and destroy the balloon.”

Full story: White House says Chinese spy balloon was watching ‘sensitive military sites’ and program has been targeting US for years

Monday 6 February 2023 18:27 , Alex Woodward

The suspected Chinese espionage airship that was downed by an American F-22 fighter on Sunday was targeting “sensitive military sites” as part of a program that has been known to US officials for a number of years, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a briefing on Monday that China’s claim that the airship was a civilian craft sent aloft for climate study purposes “strains credulity,” and said US officials have known that the Chinese military had “a measure of control” over the speed and direction of the balloon, which was surveilling “sensitive military sites” in the US.

Mr Kirby said China’s use of balloons for espionage was “not a new programme” and instead is something “they’ve been working on for many years” that China has “tried to improve in terms of capability, range [and] communications”.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington:

White House explains what the Chinese spy balloon was watching

Balloon remnants discovered off US coast as recovery operations underway

Monday 6 February 2023 17:58 , Alex Woodward

Recovery teams are examining an area roughly “15 football fields” in size after a US fighter jet shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Satuday.

“In coming days, they'll be able to get down there and take a better look at what's on the on the bottom of the ocean, but it's just starting,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in a phone briefing on Monday.

Pentagon officials are expected to discuss the operation on Monday.

China’s balloon programme has been in development ‘for many years'

Monday 6 February 2023 17:49 , Alex Woodward

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the “spy balloon” programme under China is “not new” and has been in development “for many years”.

”It is something that they’ve been working on for many years, and that they have tried to improve both in terms of capability, range, communication,” he told reporters in a phone briefing on Monday.

At least three similar balloons – though for shorter periods of time compared to the recent balloon – were above the US during the Trump administration, he said.