The Pentagon’s rhetoric changed, on Tuesday, to go beyond a “slip of the tongue” by the head of the Space Defense Agency, General Glenn Vanherk, about the possibility that unidentified objects that were recently shot down were linked to aliens.
And the United States shot down 3 unidentified flying objects over its territory and Canada in recent days, after it shot down on February 4 a Chinese balloon that it declared was being used for espionage, while China insisted that it had research purposes.
And Vanherk said, in response to a question about the possibility of these objects being associated with aliens, that he “does not rule out anything at this stage,” which raised many confusions.
However, a Pentagon official confirmed to “Sky News Arabia” that there have been scientific and intelligence assurances available in the past hours that China is using primitive means to spy on US military sites, including ballistic missile sites in specific northern states.
The official, who asked not to be named, added that Beijing “bet since the start of the balloon launches that it could mislead the US security services.”
The official emphasized that the Pentagon can distinguish between weather study balloons and those launched for espionage, acknowledging that the Department of Defense launches about 1,800 weather study balloons every day in about 50 US states.
The official revealed that such espionage balloons had previously been launched by China over Taiwan and over the Middle East region, pointing out that “this is not strange. The superpowers, including the United States, are spying on each other,” and that “espionage operations take place every day and anywhere, but they are It turns into a breach of sovereignty when it is exposed and its goals revealed.”
The official expected the discovery of more Chinese objects and balloons, which would exacerbate tensions with Beijing.
Congress condemns the flight of a Chinese balloon over American soil
The official did not deny that the upcoming meeting on Friday in Munich between Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart, Chen Gang, might reopen the severed channels of communication, “which Beijing refuses to re-connect,” explaining that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “contacted twice with his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, without telling him.” receive a response from him.
The official went further than the threat of Chinese balloons, saying that “Beijing does not leave any means except and exploits them to spy on the United States, such as the (Tik Tok) application and the fifth generation of cellular communications (5G) to monitor and monitor the communications of Americans,” he said.
The official indicated that a “state of anger” is now prevailing in the US Congress, as many of them are calling on President Joe Biden’s administration to stop US technology exports to China.
