WASHINGTON -- Republican lawmakers on Sunday accused China of deliberately surveilling sensitive U.S. military sites with a suspected spy balloon and said the Biden administration had given Beijing an intelligence opening by not downing the balloon during its high-altitude drift through American airspace.
The balloon's presence in the sky above the United States before a military jet shot it down over the Atlantic Ocean with a missile Saturday further strained U.S.-China ties. America's top diplomat abruptly scrapped a trip to Beijing and China's defence ministry said in a statement after the balloon fell into the waters off the Carolina coast that it "reserves the right to take necessary measures to deal with similar situations.鈥�
鈥淐learly this was an attempt by China to gather information, to defeat our command and control of our sensitive missile defence and nuclear weapon sites,鈥� said the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, among the members of Congress on the Sunday news shows. 鈥淎nd that certainly is an urgency that this administration does not recognize.鈥�
U.S. defence and military officials said the balloon entered the U.S. air defence zone north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 and moved largely over land across Alaska and then into Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories on Monday. It crossed back into U.S. territory over northern Idaho on Tuesday, the day the White House said U.S. President Joe Biden was first briefed on it.
鈥淚t defies belief to suggest there was nowhere鈥� between Alaska and the Carolinas where the U.S. could have safely shot down the balloon, said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the full Senate will get a briefing next week on the balloon, including details about its surveillance capabilities, and that the administration is considering measures against the Chinese for 鈥渢heir brazen activities.鈥� He said the GOP criticism was political and premature, and that the U.S. had 鈥渟ent a clear message to China that this is not acceptable.鈥�
Biden issued the shootdown order but had wanted it to happen earlier, on Wednesday. He was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water, U.S. officials said. Military officials determined that bringing down the balloon over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.
鈥淭he message they (the Chinese) were trying to send is what they believe internally, and that is that the United States is a once great superpower that鈥檚 hollowed out, that鈥檚 in decline,鈥� said Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. 鈥淎nd the message they鈥檙e trying to send the world is, 鈥楲ook, these guys can鈥檛 even do anything about a balloon flying over U.S. airspace. How can you possibly count on them if something were to happen in the Indo-Pacific region?鈥欌��
By Wednesday the balloon was over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which has fields of nuclear missile silos.
The Chinese "didn鈥檛 go and look at the Grand Canyon,鈥� Turner said. 鈥淭hey went and looked at our nuclear weapon sites and the missile defence sites throughout the country.鈥�
On Thursday the Pentagon publicly exposed the balloon, and after that, 鈥淐hina maneuvered the balloon to leave the U.S.,鈥� Schumer told reporters Sunday. A U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed that the balloon changed course at that point.
That it could be maneuvered ran counter to China's contention that the balloon 鈥� claimed to be a civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research 鈥� had limited 鈥渟elf-steering鈥� capabilities and had 鈥渄eviated far from its planned course鈥� because of winds.
"This was not an accident. This was deliberate. It was intelligence, you know?'' said retired Adm. Mike Mullen, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.
Asked whether elements of the Chinese military may have wanted to disrupt Secretary of State Antony Blinken's planned visit, Mullen responded: 鈥淐learly, I think that鈥檚 the case.鈥�
He said 鈥渢his really damages a relationship between us and China鈥� and 鈥減uts a big dent in moving forward in a constructive way, which we really need to do.鈥�
To Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who leads a new House committee on China, the message conveyed by Beijing is 鈥渓ook what we can do to you and get away with. Your corporations, your career politicians, they will come crawling back.鈥�
The flight came to an end at about 2:39 p.m. EST Saturday, when an F-22 fighter jet fired a missile at the balloon, puncturing it while it was about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, defence officials said.
The debris landed in 47 feet of water, shallower than officials had expected, and it spread out over roughly 7 miles. Officials estimated the recovery efforts would be completed in a short time, not weeks.
A U.S. official said those involved in the recovery were planning to take the remnants of the downed balloon to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for further analysis. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the plan by name and requested anonymity.
Defence officials who briefed reporters have said the U.S. was able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the country. They said the military concluded that the technology on the balloon didn鈥檛 give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.
Turner was on NBC's 鈥淢eet the Press,鈥� Rubio was on ABC's 鈥淭his Week" and CNN's 鈥淪tate of the Union,鈥� Mullen was on ABC and Gallagher appeared on Fox News Channel's 鈥淪unday Morning Futures.鈥�
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Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo, Tara Copp and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
