June weather in vienna3/21/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ‘Canadians are safe and Canada is taking steps to ensure the security of its airspace, including the monitoring of a potential second incident. In a statement on Thursday, the Canadian government said: ‘A high-altitude surveillance balloon was detected and its movements are being actively tracked by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Republican senators have called on Blinken to cancel the trip, which was agreed by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which is slated to begin on Sunday. The balloon was detected days before a planned trip to Beijing by U.S. They are thought to believe it has ‘limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective’. US officials said they have taken ‘custody’ of the balloon. Montana Senator Steve Daines feared the Chinese spy balloon floating above the state was targeting nuclear missile fields installed there. Canada was also monitoring a ‘potential second incident’ on Friday as officials worked to determine whether a separate sighting was the same balloon. The balloon – which is as large as three buses – was detected earlier this week and recently crossed over the airspace in Montana, triggering fears it could be monitoring nuclear sites there. The balloon’s discovery sparked a diplomatic crisis on the eve of a planned visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China that is also slated to include a landmark meeting with President Xi Jinping. The Chinese foreign ministry said it regretted that the balloon had mistakenly entered US airspace. The detection of the balloon triggered alarm in the White House and the Pentagon – and sparked calls for the US military to shoot it down.īeijing had urged calm while it established the ‘facts’ before a statement on Friday morning said the balloon was a meteorological research device that had ‘deviated far from its planned course’. China has claimed a suspected spy balloon flying over the United States is a ‘civilian’ airship that blew off course before it ended up over nuclear sites in Montana.
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