Pentagon spox's briefing raised more questions about the Chinese spy balloon than it answered

Doug P. | 1:24 PM on February 03, 2023

Somehow a Chinese spy balloon has been allowed over the United States and it was spotted high over Montana yesterday.

This has caused U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone an upcoming trip to Beijing next week:

Earlier, the U.S. announced that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had postponed a planned high-stakes weekend diplomatic trip to China as the Biden administration weighed a broader response to the discovery of a high-altitude Chinese balloon flying over sensitive sites in the western United States.

That abrupt decision came despite China’s claim that the balloon was a weather research “airship” that had blown off course. The U.S. has described it as a surveillance vehicle.

The development came just before Blinken had been due to depart Washington for Beijing and marked a new blow to already strained U.S.-Chinese relations.

The balloon is now over the central U.S. and the Pentagon press secretary had a briefing today that might have raised more questions than it answered.

The Pentagon is providing next to no new information on the Chinese spy balloon. pic.twitter.com/3jOYeIePdV

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 3, 2023

One thing that was made clear is that this isn’t the first time it’s happened (or at least been attempted):

REPORTER: "Is there any way you could give us more details…?"

PENTAGON: "That information is classified…I can confirm that there have been other incidents where balloons did come close to or cross over U.S. territory." pic.twitter.com/2Ac01EVjW6

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 3, 2023