Washington/Beijing, February 5
After shooting down a Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina, the US has launched a mission to recover all the equipment from the debris while China expressed its strong dissatisfaction towards America’s use of force against its civilian unmanned airship and warned of repercussions.
At the direction of President Joe Biden, the US military at 2.39 pm EST shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, some six miles away from the US shores in South Carolina, with no damage to the life and properties of Americans, a senior defence official told reporters in Washington.
Fighter aircraft from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia inspired a single missile into the balloon causing it to crash into the ocean within the US territorial airspace, said the official, adding that as of now there are no indications that any people, including US military personnel, civilian aircraft or maritime vessels, were harmed in any way.
“I told them to shoot it down,” Biden told reporters in Hagerstown, Maryland.
