Amid the diplomatic row over the downing of the Chinese spy balloon by the US, a report has linked the aircraft to the vast surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which targeted India too.
A report by The Washington Post said the U.S. officials have begun to brief allies and partners who have been similarly targeted. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman briefed about the spy balloon programme to some 150 people from about 40 embassies, besides providing every US Embassy "detailed information" on the espionage, that can be shared with allies and partners.
The US has also shared "specifics with officials in countries such as Japan whose military facilities were targeted by Beijing."
The surveillance balloon programme is operating out of Hainan province off China’s south coast and may have gathered information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, the report quoted several unnamed U.S. officials.
Besides North America, the PLA balloons have been spotted over four other continents. According to an official, this was a "massive effort." "What the Chinese have done is taken an unbelievably old technology and basically married it with modern communications and observation capabilities to try to glean intelligence on other nations’ militaries," he added.
The official said that many countries have responded with interest as they realise that they may be vulnerable to this spying tactic.
According to the reports, in 2020, the Japanese spotted an aerial orb, which many assumed was UFO. "In hindsight, people are realising that was a Chinese espionage balloon. But at that time it was purely novel — nobody had seen this. … So there’s a lot of heightened attention at this time," a Japanese official told The Washington Post.
However, it is still unclear how many balloons were similarly sent by China. But, there could have been dozens of missions since 2018, a US official told the newspaper. And not all of the balloons are the same model as the one shot down off the coast of South Carolina. According to officials, there are multiple "variations," these people said.
Meanwhile, the US Navy has begun to retrieve the remains of the Chinese balloon, the images of which have been released by the US Navy. The downed balloon was roughly 200 feet tall and carried a payload weighing more than a couple of thousand pounds.
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recovering a high-altitude surveillance balloon| AP
US Navy has started collecting remnants of the Chinese balloon that was shot down and the images of the Chinese balloon debris were released by the US Navy. The US Navy is using underwater drones, warships and inflatable vessels to retrieve all of the pieces from the balloon.
