The Pentagon has been monitoring a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Northwest for several days.
China claims it’s a civilian airship that’s conducting weather research. It happened to go off course.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry wrote on its website (emphasis theirs): “The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure. The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure.”
Under international law, “force majeure events are often labeled as ‘acts of god‘ and include both natural and man-made events like fires, floods, storms, war, and labor disputes.”
The balloon is 6,000 miles away from China.
No one has done anything to it. The balloon flew over the Aleutian Islands and Canada before entering U.S. airspace.
The Canadian Department of National Defense also said its monitoring the balloon:
Canadians are safe and Canada is taking steps to ensure the security of its airspace, including the monitoring of a potential second incident.NORAD, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defence, and other partners have been assessing the situation and working in close coordination.Canada’s intelligence agencies are working with American partners and continue to take all necessary measures to safeguard Canada’s sensitive information from foreign intelligence threats.
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