The balloon had set off a diplomatic crisis with US State Secretary Antony Blinken canceling trip to China. President Biden had ordered the US military to shoot down the device.
In a statement late Friday, China's foreign ministry said that it would continue to maintain communications with the United States to properly handle the unexpected situation.
The so-called spy balloon is technically an observation balloon, and does what the name suggests — it observes earth and gathers imagery/data for intelligence.
US scrambled F-22s to shoot down device but stopped short of downing it after considering security risks. During US Civil War & Cold War, spy balloons were used for recce missions.
In a similar incident, a Chinese spy balloon has been flying over US airspace for a few days. Pentagon has decided not to shoot it down over concerns of hurting people on the ground.
Canada faces serious foreign interference issues, but these challenges must not be weaponized to unfairly target friendly and important allies like India.
In Episode 1544 of CutTheClutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta looks at some top economists pointing to the pitfalls of ‘currency nationalism’ with data from 1991 to 2004.
The decorated Naga officer from Manipur also served as envoy to Myanmar & Nagaland chief secy. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a museum dedicated to the Tawang hero Thursday.
While we talk much about our military, we don’t put our national wallet where our mouth is. Nobody is saying we should double our defence spending, but current declining trend must be reversed.
COMMENTS