territory, what the balloon carried, and what it collected during its mission,” said the senators, who included Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.Ĭhina has said the airship was a civilian balloon used for meteorological research. “While four months have passed since a Chinese surveillance balloon was allowed to fly across the United States, your administration has yet to provide the American people a full accounting of how this spy platform was allowed to traverse across sovereign U.S. On Thursday, 19 Republican senators wrote to Biden denouncing what they called the administration’s lack of transparency over the balloon episode. The administration has also not released additional details about previous Chinese balloon flights.Īsked why the administration has not released more information about the balloon, the administration official said: “I would not anticipate the release of sensitive information regarding the analysis of the balloon debris.” for nearly a week before it was downed on Feb. The analysis, led by the FBI, entailed reconstructing the balloon, which Biden recently described as “carrying two freight cars’ worth of spying equipment” as it hovered over the U.S. “Their capabilities are significant,” one of the officials said, “better than we thought they were.” The balloon's flight prompted the administration to call off a planned trip by Blinken to China in February.Ī recently completed investigation of the balloon’s debris found that Beijing’s capabilities are far more sophisticated than the U.S. before being downed by an American fighter jet in February. shot down a Chinese balloon in February, the White House has prioritized ensuring that Blinken’s visit goes ahead, as well as other potential trips to Beijing by Cabinet members, including the commerce and treasury secretaries, former officials and congressional aides said.īut Administration officials have provided no public update since a Chinese surveillance balloon traversed the U.S. official with knowledge of the administration’s deliberations. “They want to calm the waters with China,” said a former U.S. The extensive diplomatic effort culminates this weekend with Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s rescheduled visit to Beijing. officials, congressional aides, Western diplomats and regional experts.įrom planned restrictions on investment in China to declassifying intelligence about the origins of the coronavirus, the administration has been “slow walking” certain decisions in recent months as officials have sought to mend relations with Beijing, the sources said. The Biden administration has delayed punitive economic measures against China and played down Beijing’s intensifying intelligence-gathering to avoid jeopardizing its efforts to revive diplomatic talks between the two governments, according to former U.S.
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