Joe Biden was speaking on Thursday, February 16, 2023, as the United States shot down a Chinese balloon and three unidentified flying objects in the skies of North America. EVAN VUCCI/AP
US President Joe Biden has addressed Americans for the first time since the US shot down a Chinese balloon and three unidentified flying objects on Thursday (February 16).
Joe Biden has said he plans to speak to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping but will not apologize for shooting down a Chinese balloon that entered US airspace, which Washington says is on one been a spy mission. “We don’t want a new Cold War” and “will continue to talk to China,” he said. “I hope I can speak to President Xi and get to the bottom of this matter, but I don’t apologize for crashing that balloon,” he added.
The destruction of the plane, which Beijing describes as a weather research balloon that involuntarily drifted into American airspace, sends “a clear message,” said Joe Biden, that “any violation of our sovereignty is unacceptable.”
“If an object [volant] poses a threat to the security of Americans, I will have them shot down,” the US President said.
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Uncertainty about the nature of the other three objects shot down
Joe Biden said intelligence agencies were still looking for more information on three unidentified objects that were flying over American territory and shot down by American planes — one over Alaska, another over Canada, and finally a third over Lake Huron on the border between the US and Canada. “We do not yet know exactly what these objects were, but at this time there is no indication that they were linked to China’s balloon espionage program or any other country’s surveillance activities,” the US President said.
“These three objects are probably associated with private companies, leisure activities or scientific research institutions,” said the US President. “We have no evidence that the number of objects in the sky has suddenly increased,” said the American, “but we’re seeing them more,” particularly due to a change in speed camera settings.
The president claims to have asked his administration to compile a “better inventory” of flying objects in American skies and says he has started a dialogue with US allies about the spying program he says China is conducting.
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