• Event China recognizes that the balloon that flies over the US missile bases is its own

  • Conflict A spy balloon flies over the United States

US President Joe Biden vowed on Saturday to "deal with" the Chinese balloon that entered US airspace, according to the Pentagon for "surveillance" purposes, an incident that

further strained ties between Washington and Beijing

.

Asked by journalists about the relationship of the United States with China and about the globe, Biden limited himself to answering: "We will take care of that."

The controversy erupted Thursday when US officials said they were tracking a large Chinese "surveillance" balloon in US skies but

decided not to shoot it down for fear of harming people or property on the ground

.

This caused the suspension of a visit by the head of US diplomacy,

Antony Blinken

, to Beijing, scheduled for Sunday and Monday.

Biden spoke to reporters as he had just landed aboard Air Force One in Syracuse, New York, where he will spend a few hours.

After few words from him, he immediately got into a car.

The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States, for its part, has explained that it

stopped departures and arrivals at three airports on Saturday

, including the Myrtle Beach International Airport in South Carolina, due to a "national security effort".

According to the

Wall Street Journal

, the US is once again considering "shooting down the globe."

Beijing admission

After initial hesitation, Beijing admitted that the "blimp" was its property, but said it was a

weather balloon

that had drifted off course, adding that it regretted the situation.

"The aircraft is from China. It is a civil aircraft used for research purposes, mainly meteorological," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

China "regrets the involuntary entry of the aircraft into US airspace due to a force majeure event," it said, using the legal term for an act beyond human control.

The balloon flew over parts of the northwestern United States in particular where there are

sensitive airbases and strategic nuclear missiles in underground facilities

.

On Saturday, US media reported that the balloon had been seen over North Carolina and South Carolina in the eastern part of the country.

Another suspected Chinese "spy" balloon was

spotted over Latin America

, the Pentagon said Friday, without providing details about its location or where it was headed.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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