The first comment from the Chinese defense on Washington dropping the balloon and a new country revealing the flight of a "similar object" over it

The Chinese Ministry of Defense commented today, Sunday, on Washington's shooting down of a Chinese balloon that flew for days over the United States, causing great tension between Washington and Beijing, at a time when Colombia announced that it had detected a similar object in its airspace.

In its first comment after the incident, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said that Washington's downing of the balloon, which it described as a "civilian" by force, 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 statement of the Ministry of Defense 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 shoot down the balloon, and considered the matter a serious violation of international norms, stressing that the American behavior portends repercussions.

It's apparent that a missile fired from one of the F-22s is what was used to shoot down the Chinese High-Altitude Surveillance Balloon.

pic.twitter.com/Cn1IkplsXc

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 4, 2023

Operation details

And 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 shot it down "in the airspace over the coast of South Carolina, and no collateral damage or civilian casualties were recorded."

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

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

Reuters quoted a Pentagon official as saying that the airship is part of a Chinese fleet that is spying on five continents.

For his part, US President Joe Biden said he ordered the balloon to be shot down as soon as possible when he received a briefing about it on 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.

Canada welcomes

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau affirmed his country's support for the United States' decision to "shoot down what he called the Chinese surveillance balloon," and Trudeau added in a tweet that Canada supports this measure and will continue, with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, to protect the continent's airspace.

For her part, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said in a statement that she and Trudeau were briefed on the operation by the National Security Adviser and Chief of Defense Staff.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed the downing of the Chinese balloon (Al-Jazeera)

It said Canada "worked closely" with the United States and that North American Aerospace Defense Command monitored and analyzed the trajectory of the observation balloon and what it did.

The balloon had been flying for days over Canada before entering US airspace.

Monitor a similar object

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 thousand meters, which entered 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.