04 February 2023 , 08:33
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Another spy balloon has been spotted soaring over South America after one was seen above Montana sparking outrage in the US.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a visit to Beijing after the high-altitude Chinese balloon intruded into American airspace at 60,000ft.
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said: "We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America.
“We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.”
The defence department didn't say exactly where the balloon was, but a US official said it didn't look like it was en route to the US.
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Wang Yi, China's top diplomat, was reprimanded in South Korea yesterday by Blinken, who "made clear that the presence of this surveillance balloon in US airspace is a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law".
A Chinese spy balloon in the sky over Billings, Montana (CHASE DOAK/AFP via Getty Images)But Blinken added how the US is "committed to diplomatic engagement with China and that I plan to visit Beijing when conditions allow".
He told reporters: “The first step is getting the surveillance asset out of our airspace. That’s what we’re focused on."
The incident hasn't sparked a closure of diplomatic communication channels, according to the state department.
It was stressed that the trip was only postponed and not cancelled.
In Montana, the balloon's arrival created a buzz down below among residents, who initially wondered what it was.
Amid a chorus of alarm raised by the state's elected officials, locals are now wondering what it could mean.
Smoke in the sky sparked speculation over whether the balloon had been shot down (MMtTreasures/Twitter)Curiosity about the bobbling sky orb that's the size of three school buses swept the nation and the internet, with search terms like "where is the spy balloon now?" and "spy balloon tracker" surging on Google. There is no such tracker just yet, but a couple St. Louis TV stations offered grainy live feeds of the balloon.
Internet users posted wobbly videos and photos of white splotches in comments sections and speculative feeds. And online storm chasers, more accustomed to tracking raging systems and funnel clouds, offered updates on the balloon's path through cloudless skies.
It crossed into U.S. airspace over Alaska early this week, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has cancelled a diplomatic trip to Beijing (WILL OLIVER/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)In Montana - home to Malmstrom Air Force base and dozens of nuclear missile silos - people doubted Beijing's claim that it was a weather balloon gone off course. And the governor and members of Congress pressed the Biden administration over why the military did not immediately bring it down from the sky.
"I question whether or not we would even found out about this if people hadn't spotted it in Billings," said Chase Doak, a resident of the southern Montana city who appears to have captured some of the first known video footage and photographs of the balloon.
A white balloon with what appeared to be a solar array hanging beneath it was seen over Billings Wednesday afternoon, around the same time the local airport was temporarily shut down and a day before the Pentagon said it was tracking a Chinese spy balloon over the state.
Billings residents initially wondered if it was extra-terrestrial (MMtTreasures/Twitter)
Another man thought it was a comet (MMtTreasures/Twitter)Initial speculation over its origins ranged from the foreign to the extra-terrestrial.
When Todd Hewett's 10-year-old son saw it over Billings he thought it was a comet. Hewett got some shaky footage, using a cellphone to take video through a telescope, and was skeptical of the Chinese claim it was a civilian balloon.
"Shoot it down," he said. "If we could somehow pierce the bottom of it to allow some of the gas to escape to allow for a more controlled descent (that) would be nice .. but if we can't do that ... blow it up."
A man stands guard at the US Embassy in Beijing, China February 4 (MARK R CRISTINO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)Montana has some experience with balloons launched by adversaries: Japan in World War II targeted the western U.S. with incendiary "balloon bombs" that were floated over North America with plans to harm people and start forest fires. More than 30 of the bombs made of rice paper landed in Montana, according to the Montana Historical Society.
In Oregon, five children and a pregnant woman on a church picnic were killed in 1945 when they found one of the bombs and it exploded.