US defense and intelligence agencies discovered that the balloon carried US gear, along with Chinese sensors, to collect and transmit information to China, according to the WSJ.
Since postponing a February trip due a suspected Chinese spy balloon entering US airspace, Blinken is the highest-ranking government official to visit China in the Biden administration.
‘Near space is a major sphere of competition between 21st century military powers,’ a Chinese military commentator wrote in a journal last year, as per The New York Times.
The object was first observed in Alaska Friday & US military officials closely tracked it before shooting it down Saturday over Yukon territory in Canada, said Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
After Kargil Review Committee's recommendation, air force purchased 2 aerostats worth over Rs 300 crore for surveillance in 2007. IAF favours AWACS for vigilance operations.
The US has linked the spy balloon episode to a more extensive Chinese surveillance programme, saying it has been used for spying in India, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, and Vietnam.
The report is based on interviews with several anonymous defence & intelligence officials, who said these Chinese-operated surveillance airships have been spotted over 5 continents.
DMK govt accuses Centre of withholding funds, tightening borrowing, unilateral deductions from state accounts. Says Centre's accounting & funding decisions have 'artificially inflated' debt burden.
This is the game every nation is now learning to play. Some are finding new allies or seeing value among nations where they’d seen marginal interest. The starkest example is India & Europe.
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