Colombia releases details about second Chinese spy balloon

Colombia releases more details about second Chinese spy balloon hovering over Latin America as country says it causes ‘no threat to national security’ but it is reviewing ties with Beijing: Video appears to show it flying above Cartagena

• The Colombian Air Force released details about the second Chinese spy balloon
• A second balloon traveled east over Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela
• Images show the balloon over Cartagena, Colombia, and Maracaibo, Venezuela

The Colombian Air Force has released additional information about a second suspected high-altitude Chinese spy balloon, seen hovering over parts of Latin America.

A balloon at a height of 55,000 feet was detected traveling at around 25 knots in the north of Colombia on February 3, they said in a statement. 

Unlike the balloon that traveled across the US, Colombian authorities said it was not shot down down as it wasn’t deemed a ‘national security threat’. Instead, they followed it out of national airspace.

The US Department of Defense confirmed on Friday the existence of a second balloon that reportedly flew over Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela in an easterly direction.

‘We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America,’ Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said, a day after the first craft was spotted in the US. ‘We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.’

The day after on Saturday the DoD confirmed that an F-22 Raptor fighter jet had shot down the balloon in the US which had been hovering above Missouri and Montana.

The Colombian Air Force released additional information about the second suspected high-altitude Chinese spy balloon, seen hovering over parts of Latin America. Its path is shown above in orange and labeled (2) 

‘On February 3, 2023 in the morning, the National Air Defense System detected an object above 55,000 feet, which entered Colombian airspace in the northern sector of the country,’ it said on February 4. 

Images on Twitter appeared to show the balloon hovering above both Cartagena in Colombia and later over Maracaibo in Venezuela. In both, the white surveillance balloon appeared as a white speck drifting slowly through blue skies.  

China insisted the balloon that went across the US was an errant civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research that went off course due to winds.

‘Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course,’ Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. 

The US rejected that out of hand and Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a high-stakes trip to Beijing, telling a senior Chinese diplomat that sending the balloon over the US was ‘an irresponsible act’.

Colombian officials said in its statement that it ‘will carry out pertinent investigations in coordination with different countries and institutions to establish the origin of the object.’

Colombia’s political and security relationship with the People’s Republic of China has been deteriorating in recent years, according to a report last year from the Center for Strategic International Studies. 

Its relationship with the PRC is one of the oldest in the region. In 1980 Colombia switched its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the PRC, but in the last years it appears to have begun considering China a more of a threat than an opportunity.

Colombia officials said the second balloon was detected at an altitude of 55,000 feet and traveling at around 25 knots. It is pictured here above Maracaibo in Venezuela

The second Chinese spy balloon was reported flying over Latin America, with many taking photos of a balloon hovering above Venezuela (left). The sighting came after a surveillance balloon was spotted flying Montana (right) 

Chinese officials have said the balloon was a civilian craft deployed for meteorological purposes which had gone astray. The US have rejected that idea

President Biden was initially keen to down the balloon but defense officials warned him against doing so as its large size meant it could harm Americans on the ground. Eventually it was shot down after passing over South Carolina and over the Atlantic

China is threatening to respond with ‘resolute action’ after the US eventually shot down their spy balloon after it finally passed over the Atlantic Ocean.

Beijing’s Foreign Ministry last night slammed the move as a ‘clear overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.’ 

An F-22 Raptor fighter jet took down the balloon with a single AIM-9X sidewinder missile at 2.38pm on Saturday, off the coast of South Carolina. 

PENTAGON’S FULL STATEMENT:  

This afternoon, at the direction of President Biden, US fighter aircraft assigned to the US Northern Command successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched and belonging to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over the water off the coast of South Carolina in US airspace.

The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above US territorial waters.

On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path.

After careful analysis, US military commanders had determined downing the balloon while over land posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload.

In accordance with the President’s direction, the Department of Defense developed options to take down the balloon safely over our territorial waters, while closely monitoring its path and intelligence collection activities.

This action was taken in coordination, and with the full support, of the Canadian government. And we thank Canada for its contribution to the tracking and analysis of the balloon through NORAD as it transited North America.

Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the American people first while responding effectively to the PRC’s unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. 

Beijing issued a threatening statement saying it ‘reserves the right to make further responses if necessary.’

‘The Chinese side has, after verification, repeatedly informed the US side of the civilian nature of the airship and conveyed that its entry into the US due to force majeure was totally unexpected,’ the Ministry said.

The US had been tracking the first balloon since at least January 31, when President Biden was first briefed, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

After passing the sensitive military sites in Montana, the balloon was moving south-east over the heartland of the central United States during the day and was expected to remain in US airspace for several days, officials said. 

According to three US officials, Biden initially sought to order the surveillance balloon to be shot out of the sky, and a senior defense official said the US had prepared fighter jets, including F-22s, to shoot it down if ordered.

However, officials said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, advised him against shooting down the balloon, warning that its size – as big as three buses – and considerable weight could harm Americans on the ground.

The Pentagon also suggested that the possibility of the balloon collecting important information was not very high. 

It was not the first time Chinese surveillance balloons had been tracked over US territory, including at least once during former president Trump’s administration, officials said.

This recent discovery of the balloons has dealt a new blow to already strained US-Chinese relations that have been in a downwards spiral for years.

Nonetheless, US officials maintained that diplomatic channels remain open and that Blinken said he remained willing to travel to China ‘when conditions allow’.

‘We continue to believe that having open lines of communication is important,’ he said.

A US State Department official said Blinken and deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman had both protested to the top official at the Chinese Embassy on Wednesday, a day before the Pentagon announced the discovery of the balloon.

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