China balloon: US searches in Atlantic for wreckage

US Navy divers are moving to retrieve the wreckage of the Chinese surveillance balloon that was changeable down disconnected the seashore of South Carolina.

America's erstwhile apical subject serviceman said helium expected it would hap comparatively rapidly truthful that experts could statesman analysing its equipment.

Fighter jets brought the trade down implicit US territorial waters connected Saturday and debris is dispersed implicit a wide area.

The US believes the balloon was monitoring delicate subject sites.

Its find acceptable disconnected a diplomatic crisis, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken instantly calling disconnected this weekend's travel to China implicit the "irresponsible act".

The Chinese authorities denied it was utilized for spying and insisted it was a upwind vessel blown astray.

Admiral Mike Mullen, erstwhile seat of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said connected Sunday helium thought the Chinese subject mightiness person launched the balloon intentionally to disrupt Mr Blinken's travel to China. His sojourn would person been the archetypal specified precocious level US-China gathering determination successful years.

Adm Mullen rejected China's proposition it mightiness person blown disconnected course, saying it was manoeuvrable due to the fact that "it has propellers connected it".

"This was not an accident. This was deliberate. It was intelligence," helium added.

Republican politicians person accused US President Joe Biden of a dereliction of work for allowing the balloon to traverse the state unhindered.

Marco Rubio, vice-chair of the Senate quality committee, told CNN it was a "brazen effort" by China to embarrass the president up of his State of the Union code connected Tuesday.

The Republican president of the House quality committee, Mike Turner, said the Biden medication had not recognised the "urgency" of the situation, adding: "Clearly this was an effort by China to stitchery information, to decision our bid and power of our delicate rocket defence and atomic limb sites."

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer confirmed connected Sunday that senators would beryllium briefed this period astir the balloon and its surveillance capabilities.

The high-altitude balloon - thought to beryllium the size of 3 buses - was changeable retired of the entity by a Sidewinder air-to-air rocket fired from an F-22 pitchy fighter. It came down astir six nautical miles disconnected the US seashore astatine 14:39 EST (19:39 GMT) connected Saturday.

US TV networks broadcast the infinitesimal the rocket struck, with the elephantine achromatic entity falling to the oversea aft a tiny explosion.

The debris landed successful 47ft (14m) of h2o - shallower than they had expected - and is dispersed implicit 7 miles (11km).

Explaining the determination to sprout the balloon down, a US defence authoritative said successful a statement, that "while we took each indispensable steps to support against the PRC [China] surveillance balloon's postulation of delicate information, the surveillance balloon's overflight of US territory was of quality worth to us."

China's overseas ministry expressed "strong dissatisfaction and protestation against the US's usage of unit to onslaught civilian unmanned aircraft".

In a written statement, the Chinese authorities said it would "resolutely safeguard" the rights and interests of the institution operating the balloon and that it reserved the close to "make further responses if necessary".

Mr Biden archetypal approved the program to bring down the balloon connected Wednesday, but decided to hold until the entity was implicit h2o truthful arsenic not to enactment radical connected the crushed astatine risk.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concisely paused each civilian flights astatine 3 airports astir the South Carolina seashore and advised mariners to permission the area.

Relations betwixt China and the US person been exacerbated by the incident, with the Pentagon calling it an "unacceptable violation" of its sovereignty.

US subject officials connected Friday said a 2nd Chinese spy balloon had been spotted implicit Latin America. The aforesaid day, Colombia's Air Force said an identified entity - believed to beryllium a balloon - was detected connected 3 February successful the country's airspace astatine supra 55,000ft.

It says it followed the entity until it near the airspace, adding that it did not correspond a menace to nationalist security.

China has not commented publically connected the 2nd balloon.