Washington: US President Joe Biden said he wanted to destroy an alleged Chinese ‘spy’ balloon as soon as he learned about it, but the week-long delay before it was finally shot down may actually work in his favour.
"I told them to shoot it down," he told reporters on Saturday, referring to his top generals. "They said to me, 'Let's wait till the safest place to do it.'"
When the balloon was just off the coast of South Carolina, and no longer a danger to anyone below, the order came. A single F-22 fighter flew up to 58,000 feet and fired an Aim-9X Sidewinder missile, whose white contrails were visible against a stark blue sky to those still on shore. The balloon popped and the equipment it was carrying came crashing down.
I told them to shoot it down. They said to me, 'Let's wait till the safest place to do it.
Officials also pointed to a second Chinese balloon spotted in Latin America.
Over the course of the week, the balloon most significantly derailed the first visit by a Secretary of State to China in five years. Top diplomat Antony Blinken postponed his trip over what he told China's top foreign policy official was an "unacceptable and irresponsible" act of spying.
The US has already used the Chinese balloon to bolster military and intelligence ties with its close allies, and said it briefed partners on the issue. The Pentagon praised Canadian counterparts for tracking the balloon over North American airspace, while South Korea's foreign minister, speaking at a briefing alongside Blinken on Friday, demanded China explain itself.
Even though millions were aware of the Chinese balloon drifting high above the US, Biden still didn't give Beijing any advance notice before the US aircraft brought it down, according to people familiar with the situation.
China reacts
China responded to the decision to shoot down the balloon with outrage, saying the US violated international norms by targeting what it said was a meteorological balloon that blew off course.
While US officials had told Chinese counterparts downing the balloon was an option, the refusal to communicate with China before the missile strike underscored a new depth of distrust between the two sides.
Biden's decision to wait and shoot down the balloon after several days drew a barrage of criticism from Republicans that his administration was weak on China, and should have gotten rid of it immediately or at least before it drifted over Montana, a state that houses a large portion of the US's Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles.
US military and intelligence agencies will now get their hands on a sophisticated piece of their chief geopolitical competitor's equipment. The operation to retrieve the debris with intelligence value is now underway, a Pentagon official told reporters on Saturday, adding the US believes the balloon had a broad array of intelligence gathering abilities.
Video shows moment balloon was downed
A Reuters photographer who witnessed the shootdown said a stream came from a jet and hit the balloon, but there was no explosion. It then began to fall.
In eyewitness video posted to social media, the balloon appeared to disintegrate in a white puff before its remnants dropped vertically into the Atlantic Ocean below.
Twitter user Haley Walsh posted that she "heard and felt the explosion" in Myrtle Beach, a popular resort town in South Carolina.
The North Myrtle Beach Police Department also advised residents to contact law enforcement if they see any "stray pieces" of the balloon wash ashore.
Officials warn not to touch balloon debris
Authorities in the Myrtle Beach area are advising residents not to touch debris if it washes up on shore and to contact police dispatch if they see any. "Debris should not be touched, moved, or removed," the Horry County Police Department said on social media.
The North Myrtle Beach Police Department also advised residents to contact law enforcement if they see any "stray pieces" of the balloon wash ashore.
Search for debris underway
One US military official said the debris field was spread out over seven miles of ocean, and multiple US military vessels were already on site. The officials estimated the recovery efforts would be completed in a short time, not weeks. A salvage vessel was en route.
