Launch planned offshore
China also reports unknown flying object
2/12/2023 3:21 p.m
There is currently only one topic on China’s social media: According to a report, an unknown flying object was discovered off the east coast. The incident is strongly reminiscent of similar reports from the USA and Canada.
According to a media report, China is preparing to shoot down an unidentified flying object. As the state daily newspaper “Global Times” reports, citing a local shipping authority, the mysterious flying object was sighted on Sunday off the waters of the prefecture-level city of Rizhao in Shandong province. Local fishermen in the Yellow Sea have been asked to pay special attention to their safety.
It is not known what kind of flying object it is. In China’s social media, however, the report is currently the most discussed topic – presumably because the USA recently shot down two unidentified flying objects over Canada and Alaska. A week ago, the US military also pulled a giant balloon from China off the coast of the state of South Caroline over the Atlantic.
Launch over Canada
The US government claims that China used the balloon for espionage purposes. The Chinese government, on the other hand, says the flying object was a “civilian, unmanned weather balloon” that accidentally deviated from its original route due to strong winds.
The governments in Washington and Ottawa cannot or do not want to say where the unknown flying objects that were shot down over Canada last night and over Alaska on Friday came from. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau only announced on Saturday evening that the unknown object had been shot down over the Yukon Territory in the north of his country. The remains would be recovered and examined.
“Radar anomaly” over Montana
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said it was a cylindrical object, smaller than the suspected Chinese spy balloon but similar in appearance. According to this, the object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet (approx. 12 kilometers) and posed a danger to civil air traffic when it was shot down at 15:41 local time (21:41 CET).
The airspace over the US state of Montana was temporarily closed on Saturday due to a “radar anomaly”. The North American Air Defense Command Norad announced that fighter planes had been sent to investigate them. “The planes could not identify any object that could be linked to the radar hits.” The situation will continue to be monitored.