U.S. officials believe a Chinese balloon shot down over the United States was initially on a path that was supposed to pass over Guam and Hawaii but changed course because of the wind, a U.S. official said on Wednesday on condition of anonymity. Reuters.

The balloon, which Washington accuses Beijing of using for surveillance and China considers a civilian research vessel, flew over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and then over Canada and the central United States before being shot down by the US military off the coast of South Carolina on February 4. .

The incident further strained US-China relations and forced US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to postpone a planned visit to Beijing last week.

US military and intelligence agencies have been tracking the balloon since it took off from Hainan Island off China’s southern coast, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The U.S. military said Monday it had removed critical electronic components from the balloon, as well as large parts of the craft itself.

Incidentally, Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said in a statement posted online on February 2 that similar “incidents of this type of balloon activity have been seen before over the past several years,” including during the Trump era.

While former Trump administration officials deny that they knew about the existence of any spy balloons or, if they did, that they were not near sensitive infrastructure, the Associated Press reports, citing a defense expert, that China’s spy balloons were discovered. near important facilities in Hawaii, where there is a significant US military presence, for the past five years.

“Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that over the past five years, Chinese surveillance balloons have been seen several times in various parts of the Pacific Ocean, including over sensitive US military facilities in Hawaii,” he said. Associated Press, Forbes reports.

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