A Chinese balloon that flew over the United States in February was able to collect information from several US military sites and transmit it to Beijing in real time, despite efforts by President Joe Biden’s administration to stop it, NBC News reported Monday.
The high-altitude balloon, controlled by Beijing, was able to make several passes over a few sites before being shot down on February 4, NBC said, citing a former senior US official and two executives still in office. The three officials said the balloon can transmit the information it collects to Beijing in real time.
“electronic signals”
“The intelligence collected by China was primarily electronic signals, which can be picked up by weapon systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images,” the officials told US media.
US officials were not immediately available for comment, as were the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing and the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
Washington had downplayed the object’s impact on national security. The balloon, which Beijing denies was a spy device, flew over the United States and Canada for a week in early February before it was shot down by the US military off the Atlantic coast, on the orders of Joe Biden.
The incident prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a planned visit to Beijing, further straining relations between Washington and Beijing.
On February 17, the United States said it had carried out recovery operations off South Carolina of sensors and other debris from the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, and that investigators were going to analyze its “interiors.”
Source: BFM TV
