US says Chinese balloon was part of years-long spying program

The high-altitude Chinese balloon that crossed over the U.S. last week is just part of a years-long surveillance program with Beijing deploying such craft around the globe, the US said, as officials sought to draw new attention to what they say is an increasingly aggressive Chinese spying campaign.

The Chinese spying has gone on for “several years,” sending four balloons over the U.S. alone, a Pentagon spokesman said. In a news conference Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. had briefed dozens of countries about the full extent of the espionage.

“The United States was not the only target of this broader program, which has violated the sovereignty of countries across five continents,” Blinken said at a briefing alongside NATO

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Blinken said the U.S. will reveal more about the balloon in the coming days as it collects pieces of the craft, which was shot down Saturday off the coast of South Carolina.

China has rejected allegations of spying, maintaining that the balloon that was seen over Montana last week and was shot down by a U.S. fighter jet off the cost of South Carolina was a wayward weather balloon.

Asked about the balloon sightings, Stoltenberg said it “confirms a pattern of Chinese behavior, where we see that China over the last few years has invested heavily in new military capabilities, including different types of surveillance.” He said that included more spying in Europe.

The comments pointed to efforts by the US and its allies to flesh out details of the incident and assure other countries that the Biden administration’s tough stance — which has spurred new recriminations between the world’s two biggest economies — was warranted.

Blinken said the U.S. has shared information about the balloon “with dozens of countries around the world,” communicating both from Washington and from US embassies.