The US decision to shoot down the balloon was justified,but the incident must not be allowed to derail relations with China.Credit:Chad Fish
Biden’s comments come amid heightened fear,speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding the aerial objects taken down in recent days. At one point,White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre was even forced to walk back comments made by US Air Force General Glen VanHerck,who told reporters he had “not ruled out anything at this point” – including the possibility ofaliens or extraterrestrials.
“I know there have been questions and concerns about this,but there is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent take-downs,” she said on Monday.
Nonetheless,Biden left it to members of his administration to front the public and brief members of Congress about what they knew,adding to growing frustration about the lack of transparency from Republicans and Democrats.
Loading
Some had also pointed to Biden’s Canadian counterpart,Justin Trudeau,who spoke to reporters after an object was taken down over Yukon.
Biden sought to defend his administration and outlined steps the government would take in future. This included “better inventory of unmanned airborne objects” in US airspace;a new protocol to improve the ability to detect these objects;and directing Secretary of State Antony Blinken to lead an effort to create “common global norms” to regulate the use of flying objects.
He also once again defended the time it took to dismantle the original balloon. When the Chinese object entered airspace earlier this month he had ordered the military to take it down as soon as it was safe to do so,he said. However,the military advised against shooting it down over land because it was the size of multiple school buses and posed a risk to people on the ground.
“Instead,we tracked it closely. We analysed its capabilities and we learned more about how it operates,” he said. “Because we knew its path,we were able to protect sensitive sites against collection. We waited until it was safely over water,which would not only protect civilians,but also enable us to recover substantial components for further analytics – and then we shot it down.”
Get a note directly from our foreigncorrespondentson what’s making headlines around the world.Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.