The Chinese balloon that was destroyed off the coast of South Carolina was built for spying and had sophisticated communications equipment, U.S. officials said, based on information about the balloon gathered by a U-2 spy plane.
“High-resolution imagery from U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations,” a senior State Department official told reporters. “The high-altitude balloon's equipment was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons.”
That equipment included “an array likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications.” Those photos could contribute to an embarrassment in store for Chinese officials, who insist the balloon was a “civilian airship” deployed for scientific research and blown off course.
“Everybody knows that it’s a lie. Everybody knows that they’re just trying to cover themselves,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) told the Washington Examiner this week. "It's not just the United States. The international community knows that they use balloons for spying purposes.”
CHINA'S DUMB SPY BALLOON LIE UNDERCUTS BEIJING'S ANTI-AMERICAN NARRATIVE
The spectacle of the balloon’s progress across the airspace of the U.S. last week has given way to an international discussion of a surveillance program that, according to U.S. officials, has involved Chinese violations of sovereign airspace around the world.
“It is irresponsible for the U.S. to overreact and abuse force, disregarding China’s repeated explanations and communications,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Thursday. “The U.S. claims that the balloon is part of the so-called aircraft fleet. I don’t know about it. I think it may be part of the U.S. information war against China.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team invoked the photos taken by the U-2 to reject those denials.
“We know the PRC used these balloons for surveillance,” the senior State Department official said. “It had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications. It was equipped with solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors.”
Chinese officials could soon find themselves having to rebut allegations from multiple governments. Japanese officials confirmed they have “spotted similar balloons whose affiliation are unknown” in a series of incidents.
“We are communicating with the United States, but we decline to comment on diplomatic exchanges,” Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Thursday. “Having said that, we are analyzing objects observed above Japan in June 2020 and September 2021, including any links to the case in the United States.”
The balloon fleet was built by a company that “has a direct relationship with China’s military,” according to the State Department official, who implied the company has made little effort to obscure its activities.
“The company also advertises balloon products on its website and hosts videos from past flights, which appear to have overflown at least U.S. airspace and airspace of other countries,” the senior official said. “These advertised balloon videos seemingly have similar flight patterns as the balloons we have been discussing this week.”
The balloon program’s apparent violations of national airspace could present an opportunity for U.S. officials to gain diplomatic ground in the developing world, where Chinese officials often attract political support by claiming to uphold international law in the face of Western powers.
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“From the PRC’s messaging and public comments, it’s clear that they have been scrambling to explain why they violated U.S. sovereignty and still have no plausible explanation — and have found themselves on their heels,” the senior State Department official said. “As we saw with the second balloon over Central and South America that they just acknowledged, they also have no explanation for why they violated the airspace of Central and South American countries. The PRC’s program will only continue to be exposed, making it harder for the PRC to use this program.”