US officials said that the Chinese "spy" balloon that was shot down by the US military yesterday, Saturday, was not the first to cross American airspace, and while Beijing expressed its strong dissatisfaction with the shooting down of its balloon, Colombia announced that it had detected a similar object in its airspace.

And the American “Fox News” network quoted officials that a Chinese spy balloon fell off the coast of Hawaii 4 months ago, and another Chinese balloon flew over parts of Texas and Florida during the administration of former President Donald Trump.

On the other hand, Trump denied what he called allegations by President Joe Biden's administration officials that Chinese spy balloons briefly crossed the United States during his rule.

"This never happened. If it had happened, we would have brought it down immediately," he told Fox News, adding that Beijing had a lot of respect for Washington under his leadership.

For its part, the American network "CNN" (CNN) said that the last Chinese airship remained over American soil for 3 days before it raised concerns for the generals to brief Biden.

CNN quoted US officials as saying that the initial assessment was that the balloon did not pose any intelligence or physical threat.

Earlier Sunday, Reuters quoted a Pentagon official as saying that the airship is part of a Chinese fleet that is spying on 5 continents.

On Saturday evening, the United States shot down a Chinese balloon, which it described as a "spy balloon that violated the country's sovereignty" off the coast of Carolina.

Operation details

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced - in a statement yesterday evening, Saturday - that an F-22 fighter jet fired one missile at the balloon and dropped it "in the airspace over the coast of South Carolina, and no collateral damage or losses were recorded." among civilians.

Austin added that the operation was in response to an "unacceptable violation of our sovereignty".

The Pentagon estimates that the balloon is intended for "espionage" purposes.

For his part, US President Joe Biden said that he ordered the balloon to be shot down as soon as possible when he received a briefing on it last Wednesday, but the Pentagon wanted to wait "until it is in the safest place to do so," to avoid any possible damage from falling debris.

Operations are underway to recover the wreckage of the airship with the participation of divers, and a senior US military official said that the wreckage fell in shallow waters, which "will make it very easy."

At the time of its downing, the balloon was 18 km above sea level and 11 km from the coast, according to Pentagon officials.

Prior to the operation, the US Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority announced the suspension of air traffic at 3 airports in the southeastern United States as part of a "national security" measure.

Air traffic resumed soon after the end of the operation.

Chinese condemnation

On the other hand, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said that Washington's downing of the airship, which it described as "civilian", was an exaggerated response, expressing its strong protest.

The ministry added that Beijing reserves the right to use the necessary means to deal with similar situations, without indicating the nature of those means.

The Ministry of Defense's statement comes after a previous statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in which it expressed its dissatisfaction with what it described as the United States' use of force to bring down the balloon, and considered the matter a serious violation of international norms, stressing that the American behavior portends repercussions.

Colombian ad

In a related context, and with the escalation of tensions between Washington and Beijing over the downing of the Chinese airship, Colombia announced that it had detected a similar object in its airspace.

The Colombian Air Force said yesterday evening, Saturday, that the national air defense systems detected a flying object at an altitude of about 17,000 meters inside the country's airspace in the northern sector, on the morning of February 3.

The object was moving at an average speed of about 46 kilometers per hour, showing "airship-like characteristics," she said.

The Colombian Air Force tracked the object through air defense systems until it left its airspace.

The Air Force said it "posed no threat to national security and defense, nor to aviation safety".

It added that it was now working with other countries to determine the source of the object.