In this photo provided by Chad Fish, the remnants of a large balloon drift above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. The State Department said China’s balloon was part of a fleet, and the U.S. House voted to condemn China for use of the balloon.
Chad Fish via Associated Press
The Biden administration released details about the Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon that was shot down last week, calling it just one in part of a “fleet.” On Thursday, the U.S. House unanimously passed a vote to condemn China’s balloon.
“The balloon is a test — a test of this administration to see how it would respond,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said on the floor Thursday, as reported by The New York Times. “I believe the president should have shot it down before it entered American airspace.”
When the House voted on Thursday, it was unanimously decided to rebuke the Chinese for the invasion of airspace and a “brazen violation of United States sovereignty,” per The New York Times.
Officials are still analyzing the remains of the balloon, but “know the PRC (People’s Reublic of China) used these balloons for surveillance” as it flew across the country, an official told CNN at a press conference on Thursday.
Early on, officials were quick to assure the nation that the balloon was not a threat.
“The balloon never posed a military or physical threat to the American people,” the U.S. Department of Defense said last week. “However, its intrusion of our airspace for multiple days was an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”
The balloon that was shot down was just one of many that have been spotted across the globe previously. In previous years — including during the Trump administration and earlier on in the Biden administration — a fleet of similar balloons has flown above 40 countries, on five continents, a State Department official said, according to CNN.
Officials say that encounters were happening during former President Donald Trump’s administration, which North American Aerospace Defense Command had failed to detect, ABC News reported.
While the resolution of the House on Thursday is nonbinding, it shows unity between both Republicans and Democrats in the decision to condemn China’s action, per Reuters.