The US intelligence services they believe that the chinese spy balloon that crossed its territory last week is part of a vast aerial surveillance program with which Beijing collected information on military assets in several countries, reported the daily The Washington Post.
According to the aforementioned media, US intelligence linked the chinese spy balloon shot down on Saturday with a wide surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army (EPL) and, therefore, Washington began to compare data with its partners and allies that have been attacked in a similar way.
These surveillance balloons, which have operated for several years since the hainan provinceoff the southern coast of China, have collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China, including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippinesaccording to the newspaper.
The Washington Post He cites as sources several US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
“What the Chinese have done is take some incredibly old technology and basically marry it with modern communications and observation capabilities.” to try to obtain intelligence on the armed forces of other nations, an official told the newspaper.
Last Monday, the Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman led a briefing on the China balloon spying for about 150 people from about 40 embassies, a senior administration official familiar with the matter told the US media.
The department also sent all US embassies “detailed information” on this type of espionage. “There has been a lot of interest in this from our allies and partners.”, said an administration official.
Analysts don’t yet know the size of the balloon fleet, but there have been “dozens” of missions since 2018said another US official quoted by the newspaper.
And he added that they take advantage of the technology provided by a Chinese private company which is part of the effort civil-military fusion of the country, a program through which private companies develop technologies and capabilities used by the PLA.
The US Army published this Tuesday several photos of the recovery of the remains of the chinese spy balloonwhich the US military shot down on Saturday in waters near South Carolina.
In the four snapshots released, it can be seen Marine Force soldiers aboard a boat at the moment in which recover a kind of white canvas which has a metal structure attached.
In one of the photos you can see a military frigate next to the boat in the background.
The Navy indicated in its social networks that the photos were taken on February 5th next to Myrtle Beachin South Carolina.
The boss of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, VanHerck explained in a call with journalists that the rescue ship is participating in the rescue work. USS Carter Hall Navy, which is near the place where the balloon fell into the sea, next to a boat Pathfinderwhich has a sonar, which will help create a map of the area.
“We expect the wreckage area to have a magnitude of about 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters.that is to say, more than 15 soccer fields by 15 soccer fields”, indicated VanHerck.
The President of the USA, Joe Bidenwas notified a week ago that a Chinese spy balloon was flying through the country’s airspace and since then it has been flying for several days until it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.
(With information from EFE)
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