Chinese spy balloons have flown over strategic US sites in the past: Pentagon

The Pentagon has revealed that Chinese spy balloons have passed over US sites that might be of interest to Beijing on at least four previous occasions. However, it did not say if any of these sites were military bases.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said more information about the Chinese spy balloon is being received "almost by the hour" and relevant findings will be shared with Congress and allies around the world.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said that they are not looking for conflict with China.

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"We're going to compete fully with China, but... we're not looking for conflict -- and that's been the case so far," he said in a televised interview with PBS.

Notably, the Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the US East Coast on Saturday. China slammed the decision to shoot down the balloon, saying it was a civilian air vessel and accused Washington of overreacting.

Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said Washington knows offour such past flights that happened before the latest Chinese balloon was detected. The matter triggered political outrage in the United States and Blinken even cancelled a scheduled trip to Beijing.

"They were over sites that would be of interest to the Chinese," Ryder told reporters.

Chinese intelligence activity

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Blinken told a joint news conference that the flight of the Chinese balloon confirmed a pattern of Chinese behaviour and shows how important it is to be aware of the constant risk of Chinese intelligence activity.

Stoltenberg said China had invested heavily in new military capabilities.

Also Read |Did China operate 'balloons' to spy on several countries, including India and Japan?

"And we've also seen increased Chinese intelligence activities in Europe. Again, different platforms: they use satellites, they use cyber, and as we've seen over the United States, also balloons. So we just have to be vigilant," he said.

"We need to be aware of the constant risk of Chinese intelligence and then step up what we do to protect ourselves," Stoltenberg added.

A larger fleet

Blinken further informed that information about the balloon had been shared with several other countries as it was part of a wider fleet that spanned five continents.

"We already shared information with dozens of countries around the world, both from Washington and through our embassies," Blinken said.

"The United States was not the only target of this broader programme," Blinken said.

A Washington Post report said that China has used spy balloons to allegedly spy on other countries, including India and Japan.

A senior US general had earlier said that the military didn't detect previous spy balloons in real time before the one that appeared on January 28. The Pentagon said over the weekend that Chinese spy balloons had briefly flown over the United States at least three times during Donald Trump's presidency, and once previously under President Joe Biden.

(With inputs from agencies)

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