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.
For all their colonial underpinnings, postcards from Hyderabad also inadvertently preserve a trace of local memory: a glimpse of a street, a face, a forgotten name.
Indian toymakers are now exploring new markets, but they want govt to negotiate a trade deal with US soon, introduce incentives and subsidies to make the industry more competitive.
The project is meant to be a ‘protective shield that will keep expanding’, the PM said. It is on the lines of the ‘Golden Dome’ announced by Trump, it is learnt.
Now that both IAF and PAF have made formal claims of having shot down the other’s aircraft in the 87-hour war in May, we can ask a larger question: do such numbers really matter?
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