US intelligence agencies believe that the Chinese balloon that crossed US airspace last week before being shot down is part of a large-scale aerial surveillance program through which Beijing collected data on the military capabilities of several countries, the newspaper writes. American The Washington Post quotes . from EFE.

According to the American publication, the American special services included the Chinese spy balloon shot down by the American military on Saturday off the coast of South Carolina in a wide surveillance program carried out by the People’s Liberation Army (China’s army) and, for this reason, Washington began to compare data with by their partners and allies who have suffered similar attacks.

Operating for several years from Hainan, China’s southernmost province, these surveillance balloons gathered information about military capabilities in countries and areas of strategic interest to China, including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines. publication.

The Washington Post cited several US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject.

“The Chinese have taken incredibly old technology and put it together with modern communications and surveillance capabilities” to try to gain information on other countries’ armed forces, one of the sources told the paper.

As of 2018, there were reportedly several dozen balloons in China

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Monday briefed about 150 people from about 40 embassies on China’s spying, a senior administration official familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

The State Department also sent a “detailed briefing” to all US embassies about this type of espionage. “There was tremendous interest in this from our allies and partners,” the administration representative said.

Analysts do not yet know the size of China’s balloon fleet, but “dozens” of such missions have been conducted since 2018, the newspaper quoted another US official as saying.

He added that Beijing is taking advantage of technology provided by a private Chinese company as part of the country’s “civilian-military fusion” effort, a program in which private companies develop technology and capabilities used by China’s armed forces.

Separately, the US Navy on Tuesday released more photos from operations to recover the remains of the Chinese balloon. In the four images released, US Navy personnel can be seen aboard a lifeboat as they retrieve what appears to be a white tarp to which a metal structure is attached. In another photo, a military frigate can be seen in the background, near the boat.

The US Navy wrote on its social media accounts that the photos were taken last Sunday near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The US continues to search

The US is scouring an area the size of a 15×15 football field for the remains of a Chinese balloon it shot down over the Atlantic on Saturday, US Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) chief General Glen VanHerk said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters, the US military explained that the USS Carter Hall, which is near where the Chinese balloon fell into the sea, is participating in the lift along with the Pathfinder boat, which has a sonar to help map the area.

“We expect the area where the remains (of the Chinese balloon) are located to be approximately 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters, which is more than 15 football fields by 15 football fields,” VanHerk explained.

US President Joe Biden was informed a week ago that a Chinese spy balloon was flying over US airspace, and since then it kept flying for several days until it was finally shot down over the coast of South Carolina.

All the while, Beijing authorities insisted that it was a civilian balloon that was diverted from its trajectory due to “force majeure” and accidentally entered US airspace. (Source Agerpres)