The White House sought on Tuesday (Feb 14) to take the air out of an escalating diplomatic crisis with Beijing, saying that preliminary evidence suggests three unidentified aerial objects shot down by US jets were not involved in a broader Chinese spy balloon programme
In the wake of the incident, the US military adjusted radar settings to detect smaller objects and promptly discovered three more unidentified craft that President Joe Biden ordered shot down – one over Alaska, another over Canada and the third over Lake Huron off Michigan.
US authorities “haven’t seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of (China’s) spy balloon programme or that they were definitely involved in external intelligence,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that the ownership of the three objects remains unknown but “we do want to make sure that the Americans, American people, understand that there’s no need to panic”.