US Seeks to Deflate Chinese Balloon Worries

FILED - 04 February 2023, US, Myrtle Beach: Chinese spy balloon is pictured shortly before it was shot down by an F22 military fighter jet over Surfside Beach in South Carolina. Photo: Joe Granita/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
FILED - 04 February 2023, US, Myrtle Beach: Chinese spy balloon is pictured shortly before it was shot down by an F22 military fighter jet over Surfside Beach in South Carolina. Photo: Joe Granita/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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US Seeks to Deflate Chinese Balloon Worries

FILED - 04 February 2023, US, Myrtle Beach: Chinese spy balloon is pictured shortly before it was shot down by an F22 military fighter jet over Surfside Beach in South Carolina. Photo: Joe Granita/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
FILED - 04 February 2023, US, Myrtle Beach: Chinese spy balloon is pictured shortly before it was shot down by an F22 military fighter jet over Surfside Beach in South Carolina. Photo: Joe Granita/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

The White House sought Tuesday to take the air out of an escalating diplomatic crisis with Beijing, saying that preliminary evidence suggests three unidentified aerial objects shot down by US jets were not involved in a broader Chinese spy balloon program.

The United States has been in a state of alarm since a huge white balloon from China was spotted tracking over a series of top secret nuclear weapons sites, before being shot down just off the east coast on February 4, said AFP.

In the wake of the incident, the US military adjusted radar settings to detect smaller objects and promptly discovered three more unidentified craft that President Joe Biden ordered shot down -- one over Alaska, another over Canada and the third over Lake Huron off Michigan.

US authorities "haven't seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of (China's) spy balloon program or that they were definitely involved in external intelligence," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

With Congress, the media and the public speculating over everything from a coordinated Chinese spying offensive to aliens, officials are now stressing that the three new objects appear to be neither Chinese nor involved in spying.

Kirby said they "could be balloons that were simply tied to commercial or research entities and therefore benign."

That "could emerge as a leading explanation here," he said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that the ownership of the three objects remains unknown but "we do want to make sure that the Americans, American people, understand that there's no need to panic."

Beijing denies it uses spy balloons and says the huge craft shot down off the coast February 4 was for weather research, while another spotted over South America was for pilot training.

On Monday, Chinese authorities upped the ante by accusing Washington of sending its own spy balloons over their territory -- something US officials deny.

The spat has already inflicted diplomatic damage between the rival superpowers, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly canceling a rare visit to Beijing.

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Kirby stressed that China is running a "well funded, deliberate program" to use high-altitude, hard-to-detect balloons for spying on the United States and other countries.

But whether the three latest objects downed were part of that will not be definitively known until the debris is analyzed -- and that is taking more time than US authorities would like.

"It will certainly help us hone in on that if and when we can get the debris," Kirby said.

But due to "pretty tough" weather and geographical conditions in all three cases, "we're recognizing that it could be some time before we locate and recover the debris," Kirby said. "We haven't found them yet."

The next question will be how to calibrate the military's radar shield.

If the three destroyed objects turn out to have been private or otherwise non-hostile aircraft, then the Pentagon will have to decide whether it should be responding so aggressively after every sighting.

An inter-agency security review is underway, Kirby said, and in the meantime there's no reason to expect a similar rate of drama. "I never said there was some sort of blanket policy, that we're just going to shoot things out of the sky."

Asked if Biden had overreacted and should be embarrassed if the three objects shot down turn out to be something innocuous, like weather study balloons, Jean-Pierre said: "I don't think the president should be embarrassed by the fact that he took action to make sure that our airspace, civilian airspace, was safe."



Governments Scramble to Evacuate Citizens from Israel, Iran

Pakistani pilgrims evacuated from Iran walk across the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan, Balochistan province on June 18, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. (Photo by Banaras KHAN / AFP)
Pakistani pilgrims evacuated from Iran walk across the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan, Balochistan province on June 18, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. (Photo by Banaras KHAN / AFP)
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Governments Scramble to Evacuate Citizens from Israel, Iran

Pakistani pilgrims evacuated from Iran walk across the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan, Balochistan province on June 18, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. (Photo by Banaras KHAN / AFP)
Pakistani pilgrims evacuated from Iran walk across the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan, Balochistan province on June 18, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran. (Photo by Banaras KHAN / AFP)

Governments around the world are attempting to evacuate thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiraling Israel-Iran conflict, organizing buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot.

Foreigners have rushed to leave both countries after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign last Friday targeting Iran's nuclear and military facilities, sparking retaliation from Tehran.

But with Israel's air space closed and the two countries exchanging heavy missile fire, many people are being evacuated from third countries.

European countries have already repatriated hundreds of their citizens from Israel.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia said Tuesday they had taken 181 people home on government planes.

"It was not possible to send the army plane straight to Israel," the Czech defense ministry said in a statement, citing the air space closure.

"The evacuees were taken to an airport in a neighboring country by buses. They crossed the border on foot."

The German government said flights were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday via Jordan, while Poland said the first of its citizens were due to arrive back on Wednesday.

Greece said it had repatriated 105 of its citizens plus a number of foreign nationals via Egypt, while a private plane with 148 people landed in the Bulgarian capital Sophia on Tuesday.

The US ambassador to Israel on Wednesday announced plans for evacuating Americans by air and sea, AFP reported.

The embassy is "working on evacuation flights & cruise ship departures" for "American citizens wanting to leave Israel," Ambassador Mike Huckabee posted on X.

Australia has started evacuating around 1,500 citizens from Iran and more than 1,200 from Israel -- but missile barrages have made it too risky for civilian aircraft to land in either country, it's foreign minister said.

"There's no capacity for people to get civilian aircraft in, it is too risky, and the airspace is closed," Foreign Minister Penny Wong told national broadcaster ABC.

"We have taken the opportunity to get a small group of Australians out of Israel through a land border crossing.

"We are seeking to try and do more of that over the next 24 hours."
Pakistan has shut its border crossings with neighboring Iran, except to Pakistanis wanting to return home.

Around 1,000 Pakistanis have fled so far, including at least 200 students.
The foreign ministry said the families of diplomats and some non-essential staff from Iran had been evacuated.

Around 110 Indian students have been evacuated from Iran on a special flight from Armenia, India's foreign ministry said Thursday.

New Zealand said Thursday it had closed its embassy in Iran, evacuating two staff members and their family to Azerbaijan by land.

"If and when opportunities arise to assist the departure of other New Zealanders in Iran and Israel, we will pursue them with urgency," Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.

Japan has ordered military planes to be on standby for around 1,000 Japanese nationals believed to live in Israel, and around 280 in Iran, according to government ministers.

The Japanese embassies in Iran and Israel are preparing to use buses to evacuate citizens to neighboring countries, a government spokesman said, as the war entered its seventh day.