Colombia says had spotted Chinese spy balloon before US action
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Bogota/Columbia: In the light of the US’s shooting down of an suspected Chinese balloon in its air space, Colombia has informed that an object had breached its airspace, Agence France-Presse reported.
The US had shot down a balloon off its coast, saying that that it could be a Chinese spy balloon.
Colombia said that the spotted object had similar characteristics to a balloon and was detected on Friday. Its defence monitored the object until it left the country’s airspace, Colombian Air Force said.
The Colombian Air Force said in its statement on Saturday that the said object flew at an altitude of 17,000 m and at a speed of 46 kmph. But it did not pose a threat to national security, defence or aviation security, the statement said.
Further, the air force said that it was conducting probes, coordinating with other countries and institutions to determine the “object’s” origin.
On Saturday, the US air force shot down a similar object off the coast of South Carolina. Calling it a Chinese spy balloon, US air forces said that the incident was an unacceptable violation.
Meanwhile, China explained that the balloon indeed belonged to Beijing but was just a weather balloon blown off course.
Pentagon said on Friday that another similar balloon was spotted over Latin America but did not release many details. Though no other Latin American countries acknowledged the siting of the balloon, Venezuela condemned the US shooting down the Chinese object, saying that it was an attack against a civilian unmanned aircraft of Chinese origin, AFP reported.
Venezuela is facing stringent sanctions from the US.
