No evidence downed aerial objects linked to China: White House
The White House says there is no evidence that the unidentified aerial objects shot down recently by the US were connected to China or any foreign country's spying program.
Earlier this month, the US military brought down a suspected Chinese "spy" balloon off the coast of South Carolina, fueling tensions between the two sides. The US alleged that the unmanned balloon had been designed to detect and collect intelligence signals. China, however, insisted that the balloon was merely conducting weather research.
The following day, US fighter jets shot down an octagonal flying object over Lake Huron, Canada, the Pentagon said. Media reports said it was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a US missile in little more than a week.
While there was speculation attributing the objects to China, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday that the authorities "thus far haven't seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of the PRC's spy balloon program or that they were definitely involved in external intelligence collection efforts."
Kirby said the three objects "could be balloons that were simply tied to commercial or research entities and therefore benign." That "could emerge as a leading explanation here," he added.
Kirby, however, accused China of running a "well funded, deliberate program" to use high-altitude, hard-to-detect balloons for spying on the US and other countries.
Meanwhile, China has said that US "high-altitude balloons have undergone more than 10 illegal flights into Chinese airspace" since last year.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called on the US to conduct a "thorough investigation" into the alleged string of incursions into the Chinese airspace. He also accused Washington of overreacting after noticing the Chinese weather balloon in American airspace.
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