Key points:
- US ends mission to recover Chinese balloon wreckage on thursday
- Recovers a large number of objects such as truck structures Electronic equipment and fiber optics
- All taken for analysis at the FBI lab in Virginia.
- The other three debris may not be salvageable. and cannot be analyzed without remains
Reuters reports US Northern Command made a statement on Friday (Feb. 17) local time. The last piece of debris from a Chinese balloon that wasSidewinder missiles Shot down on February 4, it is being sent to the laboratory for analysis.FBIin the state of virginia Reuters was the first media outlet to report that The salvage mission ended on Thursday (Feb. 16).
“Salvage a large number of objects, such as cargo structures. Electronic equipment and part of glass fiber All of them are at the FBI lab in Quantico.” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby spoke at the White House and said: The United States has learned a lot from observing hot air balloons.
“We believe that more can be learned by studying the gut. see how it works and its capabilities.”
Navy and coast guard ships that have been searching at sea for nearly two weeks have left the area. The Northern Command cancels the declaration of air and sea safety zones.
the army believes Collect all of the balloon’s essential sensors and electronics. including large structures It helps counterintelligence officials determine how Beijing might collect and transmit intelligence data.
Hot air balloon causes chaos in Washington Until the US military must be careful in the sky to find objects that have escaped the radar. The Northern Command fired three more unidentified objects between February 3 and 4, but the governmentPresident Joe Biden Trying to reduce expectations about the recovery of all three objects. due to heavy rain An object landed in the deep waters of Lake Huron.
“We all have to accept the possibility that We may not be able to recover it,” Kirby said, adding that without debris it would be difficult to determine what those objects were.
The balloon event also makesAnthony Blinken US Secretary of State Postpone a trip to Beijing. Relations between the two countries have worsened. Blinken’s trip will be the US Secretary of State’s first visit to China in five years. And both sides saw it as an opportunity to strengthen their relationship.
Since then, US officials have been trying to find a way for Blinken to meet with China’s number one foreign affairs official, Wang Yi. on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that kicked off on Friday (Feb. 17).
Vice President Kamala Harris also attending the Munich conference Explained to MSNBC the government’s management of balloons and three other launches that it was required to launch a Chinese balloon.
“Because we are confident that China uses it to spy on Americans. We will maintain our view of what should be in China-U.S. relations. That won’t change. But, of course, balloons are useless.”
