The Pentagon has released a photo of the alleged Chinese spy balloon. It shows the balloon hovering over the mainland of the United States on February 3, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The photo was taken from the cockpit of a reconnaissance aircraft of the US military. Just one day later, the US military shot down the Chinese balloon off the coast of the state of South Carolina over the Atlantic.
The recovery of the balloon had already been completed at the end of last week. The debris is now being evaluated by the counterintelligence office of the Federal Police FBI. "Most of the balloon, including the cargo, has been recovered," Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said. She did not want to give further details on the evaluation of the debris and referred to the FBI.
The US accuses China of wanting to spy on military facilities with the balloon. Beijing, on the other hand, speaks of a civilian research balloon that has gone off course. The incident caused additional tensions in the already strained relationship. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's top foreign policy chief Wang Yi met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last weekend. At first, however, there were no signs of relaxation afterwards.