US says Chinese spy balloon can collect intelligence signals

WASHINGTON – The Chinese balloon that crossed the United States was equipped to collect intelligence signals and was part of a massive military aerial reconnaissance program targeting more than 40 countries, the Biden administration said Thursday, describing the scale and capabilities of the massive balloon that has captivated the country’s attention to how the US shot him down.

The US said the balloon fleet is operated by the People’s Liberation Army and is used specifically for espionage, equipped with high-tech equipment designed to collect sensitive information from targets around the world. According to the administration, similar balloons flew over five continents.

A statement by a senior State Department official provides the most detailed information to date on the Chinese military’s connection to the balloon that was shot down by the US over the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend. The public details are intended to refute China’s persistent denials that the balloon was used for espionage, including Thursday’s claim that the US accusations of the balloon amounted to an “information war” against Beijing.

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In Beijing, before the U.S. provided new information, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning repeated her country’s claim that the large unmanned balloon was a civilian meteorological airship that had strayed off course and that the U.S. “overreacted” by shooting down his.

“This is irresponsible,” Mao said. The latest accusations “may be part of the US information war against China,” she said.

China’s defense minister refused to answer a phone call from defense secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday to discuss the balloon issue, the Pentagon said. China did not respond to questions about which government department or company the balloon belonged to, or how it planned to follow through on a promise to take further action on the matter.

The United States gave a categorically contradictory characterization of the balloon and its purpose. It says images of the balloon taken by U.S. U-2 spy planes as it crossed the country showed it was “capable of collecting radio signals” with multiple antennas and other equipment designed to download sensitive information and solar panels to their nutrition.

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Jedidiah Royal, Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Indo-Pacific, told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that the military had “some very good guesses” about what intelligence China was asking for. Additional information is expected to be provided in a confidential setting.

A State Department official who provided details to reporters via email on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter, which has already forced the cancellation of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s planned visit to China.

The official said analysis of the balloon’s wreckage was “inconsistent” with China’s explanation that it was a weather balloon that went off course. The US is reaching out to countries that have also been targeted to discuss the extent of China’s surveillance program and are exploring possible actions that “would support a balloon intrusion into US airspace,” the official said.

The official said the US is confident that the manufacturer of Saturday’s downed balloon has “a direct relationship with the Chinese military and is an approved supplier” to the army. The official cited information from the official PLA procurement portal as evidence of a connection between the company and the military.

The U.S. House of Representatives was expected to pass a resolution on Thursday accusing China of “a brazen violation of the sovereignty of the United States” and of trying to “deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence-gathering campaigns.” The resolution was expected to win support from both Democrats and Republicans, reflecting growing bipartisan anger in Washington over what lawmakers see as Chinese aggression.

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This is not the first time the US government has publicly condemned the alleged activities of the People’s Liberation Army. In a first-of-its-kind trial in 2014, the Obama administration’s Justice Department indicted five accused PLA hackers of hacking into the computer networks of major US corporations to steal trade secrets.

In 2020, alleged PLA hackers were also charged with stealing the identities of tens of millions of Americans in a hack into the credit agency Equifax.

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Associated Press contributors Nomaan Merchant and Lolita S. Baldor of Washington contributed to this report.