Chinese balloons made at least 20 flights over five continents to collect information within the framework of an extensive intelligence program.
This was announced by CNN, citing sources in the American administration.
According to one of the channel interlocutors, about 5-6 flights took place in the airspace of the United States, but not necessarily directly above the territory of the United States. Not all balloons that flew over the territories of different countries were the same model as the ball shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4. The source told the channel that these were rather numerous “variations” of that balloon. The exact size of the “fleet” of the Aerons of the PRC to the interlocutors of the canal is unknown.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post wrote with reference to American intelligence data that the Chinese military for several years used balloons to collect information about objects in a number of states. According to the newspaper, American officials began to inform their allies and partners, behind the objects on the territory of which the Chinese side allegedly watched.
In the process of surveillance, according to US intelligence, Beijing “collected information about military means”, in particular, in India, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, as well as in Taiwan.
The publication reports that the first deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Monday conducted a briefing on this issue. It was attended by “about 150 people out of about 40 embassies.” The State Department sent to all US embassies “detailed information” about intelligence activities that the Chinese side supposedly conducted.