China has high-altitude balloon programme linked to army, White House says

Published

2 years ago

February 14, 2023

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The White House has determined that China has a “high-altitude balloon programme” for intelligence gathering.

It comes as tensions are mounting between the US and China after the US shot down a fourth unidentified object over North American airspace.

It was downed over Lake Huron in Michigan at 2.42pm local time on Sunday on President Joe Biden’s orders and came after objects were shot down in Alaska and Canada on Friday and Saturday.

John Kirby, the national security council coordinator for strategic communications, said on Monday that the US is still working to “better understand” foreign intelligence collection efforts.

“We were able to determine that China has a high-altitude balloon programme for intelligence that’s connected to the People’s Liberation Army,” he said at a news conference.

He says the balloons have provided “limited capabilities” but in the future as technology advances, it could become “more valuable to them”.

Mr Kirby says because the US cannot “definitively” identify what the risks of the balloons are, they reacted out of “an abundance of caution”.

Mr Kirby said the objects were not manned and there were no signs they had manoeuvring or propulsion capabilities.

He added: “We did assess that their altitudes were considerably lower than the Chinese high-altitude balloon and did pose a threat to civilian commercial air traffic.

“And while we have no specific reason to suspect that they were conducting surveillance of any kind, we couldn’t rule that out.”

He said the missions were “conducted successfully and safely”.

Efforts are under way to recover what remains of the objects to understand what they are, but the ones in Alaska and Canada are in remote terrain, making it more difficult to find them.

Outside of recovery operations, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Command) is continuing to monitor the situation, Mr Kirby said.

‘No indication of aliens’

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, also addressing the media at the news conference, emphasised that the American people should hear “there is no indication of aliens” from the White House.

She joked with the journalists gathered for the briefing: “I loved ET the movie, but I am just going to leave it there.”

Elsewhere, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters from Brussels that the “safety and security” of the American people is President Joe Biden’s “number one priority”.

He said: “I want to reassure Americans that these objects do not present a military threat to anyone on the ground. They do, however, present a risk to civil aviation, and potentially an intelligence collection threat. And we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

He added that the US has not been able to “definitively assess what these recent objects are”.

‘Very serious situation’

Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the invasion of North American airspace is “a very serious situation” and is being taken seriously.

He said the issue will be part of discussions when he meets US President Biden.

Mr Trudeau said search and recovery efforts for the object shot down by a US fighter jet over Yukon territory on his orders on Saturday were under way, but the weather was posing some challenges in the search for debris.

“Obviously there is some sort of pattern in there, the fact we are seeing this in a significant degree over the past week is a cause for interest and close attention,” he said.

ET jokes aside, this could escalate very easily

There was a joke about ET from the White House podium today.

But beyond the bemusement, even amusement, over these UFO shoot-downs, there is a very serious side to this.

We know one of the four “objects” was Chinese. The balloon shot down off South Carolina was claimed by Beijing as a “weather balloon”. It’s possible, even probable, that the others were Chinese too; all part of an attempt by China to fish for intelligence or simply to test America’s red lines.

Here’s the concern though. The Chinese will want an opportunity to retaliate, at the very least for the shooting down of their “weather balloon” last weekend. You can see how this could easily escalate. The Americans routinely operate surveillance aircraft in the Pacific region.

At the White House, an official said repeatedly: “There is no US surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace.” But he wasn’t answering the question he was asked. Does the United States have any surveillance aircraft in airspace claimed by the Chinese?

China claims a vast swathe of maritime territory off its southern coast – within what Beijing calls a “nine dash line” that stretches well into Filipino and Malaysian waters.

If American aerial surveillance activity is taking place in that area, or over Taiwan (also claimed by China as its “renegade province”) then they could now be at vastly increased risk of being shot down. The ultimate concern would be that a manned aircraft is shot down by one side or the other as part of an escalation or miscalculation.

What we know so far about the flying objects:

On 4 February, the first object, described by US officials as a suspected Chinese “spy” balloon, was shot down off the Carolina coast;
On 10 February, a second object, described as being “about the size of a small car” was spotted by NORAD near Alaska and downed;
Just a day later, on 11 February, a third object, again unidentified, was tracked entering US airspace over Alaska before drifting over Canada and was shot down;
On Sunday, US officials confirmed another unidentified object had been shot down by fighter jets over Lake Huron on the US-Canada border near Michigan;
A US F-16 jet fired a missile at about 20,000ft at the latest object amid concerns that its altitude and flightpath could endanger civilian planes;
A senior US official, speaking anonymously, described the latest object as having “an octagonal structure with strings hanging off but no discernible payload”;
Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said teams were searching for the object shot down over his country.

US

‘Have the meeting now!’: Trump says Ukraine should ‘immediately’ agree to direct talks with Russia

Published

7 hours ago

May 11, 2025

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'Have the meeting now!': Trump says Ukraine should 'immediately' agree to direct talks with Russia

US President Donald Trump has demanded that Ukraine should “immediately” agree to direct talks with Russia in a bid to end the war.

It comes after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his team were “ready to meet” Russian representatives following Vladimir Putin suggestion of peace talks, subject to an unconditional ceasefire starting on Monday.

Russia‘s president put forward the proposal for talks in Istanbul on Thursday after European leaders including Sir Keir Starmer threatened him with fresh sanctions if Russia failed to comply with an unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting on Monday.

Analysis:
Why calls for Ukraine talks are likely a delaying tactic from Putin

However, in a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Mr Trump said he was “starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin”.

He urged them to accept the meeting invitation “immediately”, adding “have the meeting now”.

Mr Trump wrote: “President Putin of Russia doesn’t want to have a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the bloodbath.

“Ukraine should agree to this, immediately. At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the US will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly.

“I’m starting to doubt that Ukraine will make a deal with Putin, who’s too busy celebrating the Victory of World War ll, which could not have been won (not even close!) without the United States of America.

“Have the meeting now!”

Shortly after Mr Trump’s post, Mr Zelenskyy posted on X saying: “We await a full and lasting ceasefire, starting from tomorrow, to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy.

“There is no point in prolonging the killings. And I will be waiting for Putin in Türkiye on Thursday. Personally. I hope that this time the Russians will not look for excuses.”

When Mr Putin first suggested the talks, Mr Trump hailed it “a potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine” and said he would “work with both sides to make sure it happens”.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said he “fully supported” Mr Putin’s proposal and was ready to host the talks, after the two leaders spoke over the phone on Sunday.

But security and defence analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News presenter Matt Barbet there is a “long way between now and Thursday” and a “fair bit of brinkmanship” going on.

He said even if the talks do go ahead, “the chances are they’ll extend over a long period and there won’t be a ceasefire as a result of them, and the Russians will keep playing this out”.

Mr Putin’s counteroffer of talks came after Sir Keir, Mr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, recently elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met in Kyiv.

The leaders said they had secured Mr Trump’s backing after briefing him on the progress made on the so-called “coalition of the willing” plans in a 20-minute phone call.

US

Bodycam footage shows ICE agents arrest Newark mayor Ras Baraka

Published

12 hours ago

May 11, 2025

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Bodycam footage shows ICE agents arrest Newark mayor Ras Baraka

Bodycam footage has captured the arrest of a US city mayor during a protest at a federal immigration detention centre.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was released from custody hours after he was detained on Friday, has denied trespassing during a confrontation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

He was at the facility, which opened in the New Jersey city last week, with three members of Congress and witnesses said his arrest came after he tried to join them in entering the centre.

In bodycam footage released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), an agent can be heard telling him: “Listen, congressmen are different, congresswomen are different.

“Mr Mayor, anyone that is not a congresswoman or man, step back… It’s your last warning. You will be placed under arrest.”

A heated argument broke out after Mr Baraka’s entry was blocked and he left the secure area to rejoin protesters on the other side of the gate.

Minutes later, several ICE agents, some wearing face coverings, surrounded him and others on the public side.

Mr Baraka was dragged back through the gate in handcuffs, as protesters shouted: “Shame.”

Alina Habba, interim US attorney for New Jersey, said on X that Mr Baraka trespassed at the detention facility, which is run by private prison operator Geo Group, adding he had “chosen to disregard the law”.

The DHS said in a statement that the politicians had not asked for a tour of the Delaney Hall centre, which the agency said it would have facilitated.

The department said that as a bus carrying detainees was entering in the afternoon “a group of protestors, including two members of the US House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility”.

After his release on Friday night, the mayor told waiting supporters: “The reality is this: I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Mr Baraka, a Democrat running to succeed term-limited Governor Phil Murphy, has embraced the fight with Donald Trump‘s administration over illegal immigration.

He has been a vocal critic against the construction and opening of the 1,000-bed detention centre, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues.

DHS said in its statement that the facility has the proper permits and inspections have been cleared.

US

UK-US trade deal ‘isn’t worth the paper it’s written on’, Nobel Prize-winning economist tells Sky News

Published

12 hours ago

May 11, 2025

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UK-US trade deal 'isn't worth the paper it's written on', Nobel Prize-winning economist tells Sky News

A Nobel Prize-winning economist has told Sky News the recently announced UK-US trade deal “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on”.

Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump announced the “first-of-a-kind” agreement with a live, televised phone call earlier this week – and the British prime minister hailed the deal as one that will save thousands of jobs in the UK.

Politics latest: Tories criticise proposals to tackle immigration

But leading economist Joseph Stiglitz has told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips he “wouldn’t view [the deal] as a great achievement”.

“Any agreement with Trump isn’t worth the paper it’s written on,” he said, pointing out the president signed deals with Canada and Mexico during his first term – only to slap them with hiked tariffs within days of returning to the White House this year.

“I would view it as playing into Trump’s strategy,” he said.

“His strategy is divide and conquer, go after the weakest countries, and sort of put the stronger countries in the back.”

The scramble to secure a UK-US trade deal was sparked by Mr Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ announcement last month, which saw the president hike import tariffs for multiple countries and subsequently send global markets crashing.

China initially faced tariffs of 34% and when Beijing hit the US with retaliatory rates, a trade war quickly ensued.

The US and China now impose tariffs of above 100% on each other, but representatives from the two countries have this weekend met for high-stakes negotiations.

With its response to Mr Trump, Beijing “made it very clear that the US is very dependent on China in so many ways,” Mr Stiglitz said.

“So they’re beginning now to negotiate, but from a position of strength.”

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Asked if he thinks the UK should have focused on its relationship with the EU instead of the US, Mr Stiglitz said: “Very much so.

“My view is that if you had worked with the EU to get a good deal, you could have done better than what you’ve done.

“If it turns out, in the end, when you work it all out, Trump is unhappy, he’ll run. If he’s unhappy, I pray for you.”

Among the terms in the UK-US trade deal are reduced tariffs on British car and steel exports to the US, while the UK has agreed to remove a tariff on ethanol, used to produce beer.

The agreement also opens a new agricultural exchange, with US farmers being given access to the UK for the first time – though UK food standards on imports have not been weakened.