This was the operation to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon in the United States

• China's reaction expresses its "strong discontent" over the demolition of its balloon in the US and considers it a "disproportionate" reaction

After several days flying over the sky of the country, the United States shot down this Saturday the Chinese spy balloon that was off the coast of South Carolina.

This was confirmed by the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin, who had shot down the balloon by an order President Joe Biden had given when the conflict began,

The United States had already warned on Thursday that it was tracking what they called a Chinese "huge surveillance balloon" in American skies.

Hours later, Beijing acknowledged that it was the owner of said "aircraft", but assured that it was a weather balloon that had deviated from its intended course.

But, how was the operation to shoot down the 'spy balloon' planned?

According to the first details provided by the United States,

was in charge of shooting down the spy balloon over the waters of the Atlantic, off the coast of South Carolina.

"On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to shoot down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to the lives of Americans in its path," Defense said in a statement.

After reviewing various alternatives, the Department of Defense determined that

course was to shoot down the balloon over water to avoid causing personal injury or property damage and had to consider several options in order to do so safely.

Finally, it was this Saturday when they considered that it was the most appropriate moment and they did it in coordination and "with the full support of the Canadian government."

It was shot down after having traveled

through the sky of the United States, as soon as the air forces saw that the ship was already over the sea.

In the videos that began to circulate on the net, you can see what looks like the wake of a fighter approaching the balloon and launching a missile at it.

Seconds later the spy balloon bursts and falls into the void.

After it was shot down, President Joe Biden himself congratulated the F-22 pilots for shooting down the balloon in US airspace and territorial waters, according to AFP.

Austin assured that they had decided to shoot it down because it was an "unacceptable violation of our sovereignty by the People's Republic of China" since they used said balloon to try to "surveill strategic sites" of the United States, he stressed.

Now, several ships of the Navy and the Coast Guard are carrying out the search for the remains of the balloon to analyze it.

China calls US reaction "disproportionate"

China's reaction after the shooting down of the spy balloon has not been long in coming.

The Asian country's Foreign Ministry has accused Washington of "reacting clearly disproportionately" and incurring a "serious violation of international practices."

Thus, he has shown his "strong discontent" at the use of "force" by the United States.

Something that he considers "increases tensions" between Washington and Beijing.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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