US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the United States would “deal” with the Chinese balloon that entered US airspace, without offering further details.
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“We will take care of it,” said Mr. Biden, who was asked to react to the affair, which threw a chill on relations between Washington and Beijing, and caused the postponement of a visit by the chief of American diplomacy Antony Blinken in China.
The American president had just landed aboard Air Force One in Syracuse, New York, where he is to spend a few hours. After these few words, he then immediately got into a car.
According to American media, the Chinese balloon, which the Pentagon claims is a “spy” balloon, was observed on Saturday over North Carolina on the east coast of the United States.
Beijing acknowledged that it was indeed a device from China, but assured that it was a “civilian aircraft, used for research purposes, mainly meteorological”.
The machine would have “deviated from its trajectory”, added a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressing the “regrets” of his country for this “involuntary” violation of American airspace.
The balloon notably flew over the state of Montana (west), which is home to nuclear missile silos, before moving east.
It has so far been decided not to shoot it down, due to the risks posed by possible debris to people on the ground, said a senior Pentagon official.
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