China urged on Friday not to “speculate” after the Pentagon revealed that a Chinese spy hot air balloon flew over the United States at high altitude.
“Until the facts are clarified, speculation and agitation will not help to properly resolve this issue,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a news conference.
The United States and Canada have detected a surveillance balloon flying over the airspace of the two countries, and Washington says it is pretty sure the device is Chinese.
The Pentagon decided not to destroy the balloon because of the risk of hitting people on the ground, US officials said Thursday.
The balloon was sighted in US airspace for two days and the discovery puts additional pressure on US-China relations.
A defense official told reporters the United States was “very confident” it was a Chinese high-altitude balloon flying over sensitive locations to collect intelligence.
One of the locations where the balloon was seen was Montana, home to one of three nuclear missile silo fields.
Source: TSF
