Four previous Chinese spy balloon flights over the United States passed over sites that would be “of interest to the Chinese,” the Pentagon said on Wednesday, without elaborating on the paths the balloons took or whether the US sites were military ones.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the United States was aware of the four past flights before it detected the latest Chinese balloon prior to its arrival over Alaska on January 28.
A US military fighter jet shot down that balloon on Saturday off the South Carolina coast, triggering condemnation from China, which said it was a civilian air vessel.
Pentagon: Past Chinese balloons flew over US sites ‘of interest to the Chinese’
3 years ago
