Chinese authorities reportedly detected an unidentified flying object over the waters near a major naval base and were preparing to shoot it down, according to the officials.
Local maritime authorities in east China’s Shandong province said they had seen an “unidentified flying object” in waters near the coastal city of Rizhao, the state-run Global Times reported. reported on sunday.
A visitor poses for photographs off the coast of Qingdao, Shandong province, China, after an oil spill in the Yellow Sea caused by a collision between the tanker A Symphony and the bulk carrier Sea Justice off the port of Qingdao, on 29 January. April 2021. (REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)
Other media reported that the UFO was seen near Qingdao, which is home to the Jianggezhuang Naval Base, a major People’s Liberation Army naval base.
An official with the marine development authority told The Paper, another Chinese news outlet, that the “relevant authorities” were preparing to shoot down the object.
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The reported sighting comes days after US warplanes shot down unidentified objects over Canada and remote Alaska. A week earlier, the US military fired a suspected Chinese spy balloon, the size of three school buses, off the coast of South Carolina after it had traversed the United States.
The Biden administration said it was used for surveillance. China claims he was on a meteorological fact-finding mission.
A balloon flies in the sky above Billings, Montana, USA, February 1, 2023 in this image obtained from social media. (Chase Doak/via Reuters)
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that the United States believes the downed unidentified objects were balloons, albeit smaller than one shot down over the Atlantic Ocean.
Schumer said crews were recovering debris from the objects and would work to determine where it came from. Those shot down on Friday and Saturday were smaller and were flying at lower altitudes, around 40,000 feet, within airspace occupied by commercial flights, compared to 60,000 feet for the first.
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“The bottom line is that we didn’t know about these balloons until a few months ago,” Schumer said. “It’s crazy that we didn’t know… They’re learning so much more now. And the military and intelligence are focused like a laser on collecting and accumulating the information first, and then doing a comprehensive analysis.
These incidents have led to increased tension between Beijing and Washington. Over the weekend, the US Navy and Marine Corps conducted joint exercises in the South China Sea, virtually all of which China claims as its own and strongly opposes other nations’ military activity in the waters. in dispute.
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The United States does not take an official position on sovereignty in the South China Sea, but maintains that freedom of navigation and overflight must be preserved. Several times a year, he sends ships sailing past fortified Chinese outposts on the Spratly Islands, sparking angry protests in Beijing.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
