President Joe Biden said Thursday that three unidentified objects shot down by U.S. fighter jets do not appear to have been used to spy on the United States and were likely related to charitable causes.

In his first speech since the US downed a Chinese hot air balloon and three unidentified flying objects in North American skies, Biden said the US intelligence community had assessed that the objects were likely linked to private companies or research institutions.

Biden said he did not apologize for bursting the China bubble and that it was necessary.

“If any object is a threat to security, the security (of the American people), I will destroy it,” he said.

“The downed object was the size of a bus and posed a danger to people. We prepared and lowered it above the water to analyze the remains. We analyze all found objects and continue negotiations with China. We don’t want a cold war,” he added, saying he looked forward to talks with President Xi Jinping.

“The US was able to protect sensitive sites from data collection by a Chinese balloon,” the president said.

He assured American citizens that the US will develop its ability to detect unmanned objects flying in its airspace and proceed to a thorough inventory of them.

At the end of the statement, Biden refused to answer questions from reporters, telling them: “Come to me, we will talk when you are civilized people.”

Chinese balloon shot down by US is said to have targeted Hawaii, home to sensitive US military facilities

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. , informs. Reuters.

The balloon, which Washington accuses Beijing of using for surveillance and China says is 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.

Of the four flying objects shot down by the US in recent weeks, only the first was attributed to China’s surveillance efforts.

The balloon took off from Hainan Island in China and then took off on a route that appeared to be over Guam, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing The Guardian. He then “suddenly” turned north, WP reported, citing unnamed US officials. After entering Canadian airspace, strong winds blew it south across the border, WP reports.

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

Chinese spy balloon Photo: Chase DOAK / AFP / Profimedia

This is not the first time such a device has crossed the country

The U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon on Saturday, but high-altitude balloons are part of a broader Chinese spying program, and such devices have also been spotted during Donald Trump’s presidency.

“Incidents of this type of balloon activity have been seen before over the past several years,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement posted online on Feb. 2.

Other senior national security officials in the Trump administration have said they were not personally aware of any Chinese surveillance balloons over the United States during Trump’s four years in office and do not believe Trump was briefed.

• Expert opinion: VIDEO. Were there UFOs or not? A Romanian researcher briefly explains the controversy over the balloons shot down by the Americans and Canadians

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