‘Spy balloon part of wider Chinese snooping plan, dozens flown since 2018’: US

New Delhi: The Chinese ‘spy balloon’ shot down by the US on Saturday was not a random ‘weather balloon’ blown off the course as claimed by China, but a part of a broader Chinese aerial surveillance programme ran by the People’s Liberation Army of China, US intelligence officials have said. The balloon programme, being run out of the Hainan province in southern China has been operational for several years. It had collected information on the military assets of countries of strategic interest to China; India, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and Philippines, according to US intelligence sources interviewed by the Washington Post. “What the Chinese have done is taken an unbelievably old technology, and basically married it with modern communications and observation capabilities”, the Washington Post quoted the US officials as saying. WATCH: Just when China’s ‘spy’ balloon was shot down by F-22

The United States shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floated off the South Carolina coast https://t.co/Ys5vDuJbQy pic.twitter.com/IuNeazI6hH

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 4, 2023

Similar ‘spy balloons’, the US intelligence said, have been spotted over five continents. “It’s a massive effort”, said one intelligence official. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Monday held a briefing with envoys from around 40 embassies, according the Post report. All US embassies were also sent detailed information on the espionage that can be shared with allies and partners. US officials have also started to share specifics with countries like Japan whose military assets were targeted in the programme. “There has been great interest in this on the part of our allies and partners,” said a senior administration official. “Many of them recognise that they, too, may be vulnerable or susceptible to this or an object of interest to the PRC,” the official said. Dozens of spy balloons A similar balloon was spotted over China in 202O. But back then people dismissed it as a “UFO”, said a Japanese officials. It was a novelty at the time and wasn’t paid much heed to. However, that is not the case anymore. “In hindsight people are realizing that was a Chinese espionage balloon. But at that time it was purely novel — nobody had seen this. … So there’s a lot of heightened attention at this time”, the Japanese official was quoted as saying by the Post. US officials said that there has been “dozens” of these missions since 2018 The Pentagon during a Saturday news briefing said that there many of these balloons operational elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. “These balloons are all part of a PRC fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations, which also violated the sovereignty of other countries”, said an official. Potent espionage platform Although PLA’s most of the surveillance programmes are conducted through it expanding spy satellite array, it has identified the opportunity to conduct the espionage programmes in the upper atmosphere at an altitude of between 80,000 – 60,000 feet, above where the commercial jets fly. Some commentators in the US have undermined the potential of these balloons, but others are warning against the programme. “For those who have a sanguine view about the actual intelligence collection capabilities of this balloon, I think they’re underestimating the creative ways the PLA might use it either for intelligence and surveillance purposes, or as a platform for weapons,” said Representative Mike Gallagher, chairman of the Select Committee on China, according to the Washington Post reported. Four similar balloons were spotted over the US in the recent years. Three of the incidents took place during the Trump administration. The US has collected information on the technology used in the balloons by observing the latest balloon through jets and the examining the remains of the Chinese spy balloon that crashed off the Hawaiian Islands in June 2022. The balloons are equipped with electro-optical sensors or digital cameras that can capture precise images, the US officials said. They are also outfitted with radio signal and satellite transmission capability, the officials added. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.