Report: Chinese spy balloon was part of a massive surveillance program that targeted many nations, including India.
According to the US, Beijing’s extensive aerial surveillance program, which is run out of the province of Hainan off the country’s south coast, includes the deployment of the spy balloon. The authorities added that China has gathered data on military resources in a number of nations.
The information was revealed a few days after the US military destroyed a Chinese surveillance vessel that was flying over important installations in the nation.
According to The Washington Post, China has used a fleet of spy balloons to target a number of nations, including Japan and India.
Indian officials have been informed by US officials about the discovery of the Chinese surveillance balloon that was downed by a fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean.
US authorities have begun telling allies who have been similarly targeted after linking the Chinese spy balloon to a comprehensive surveillance operation managed by the People’s Liberation Army. Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of state, informed representatives from approximately 40 embassies about it on Monday.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years in part from the province of Hainan off the southern coast of China, has gathered data on military assets in nations and regions of growing strategic interest to China, including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Interviews with multiple unnamed defence and intelligence officials served as the basis for The Post’s investigation.These surveillance airships, which the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) air force operates in part, have reportedly been detected over five continents, according to officials, the newspaper stated.
A senior defence official was quoted as saying, “These balloons are all a part of a PRC (People’s Republic of China) fleet of balloons developed to perform surveillance activities, which also violated the sovereignty of other countries.”
In addition to the balloon that was tracked last week, at least four other balloons have reportedly been seen over Hawaii, Florida, Texas, and Guam in recent years.
Three of the four occurrences occurred within the Trump administration, but the Chinese surveillance airships were only just discovered, it claimed.
The high-altitude surveillance balloon was recovered on Tuesday, according to a sequence of images supplied by the Pentagon.