Update:
11 a.m. Saturday with reports that balloon is now over North Carolina.
‘Shoot down the Chinese spy balloon NOW’: Texas lawmakers want action, answers from Biden
House Foreign Affairs Committee leaders condemn the discovery as a violation of privacy, sign of military aggression.
WASHINGTON — Leaders on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and other members of the Texas congressional delegation are calling on President Joe Biden to act on a Chinese balloon found flying over sensitive sites in the United States.
Originally, Chinese officials claimed the balloon was for weather research and had blown off course. However, the U.S. has identified it as a surveillance tool.
As the Biden administration weighs their response to the balloon, Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a diplomatic trip to China this weekend, where he was set to meet with senior Chinese officials.
The balloon has been seen over parts of Montana, with the latest sightings over Missouri and Kansas midday Friday, according to CNN. Pilots in flight over the heartland have begun to report sightings of the balloon. Saturday, there were widespread media reports that the balloon has drifted over North Carolina, and the Pentagon has confirmed a second Chinese balloon has been spotted over South America.
Republicans and many Democrats alike are united in publicly declaring that a Chinese blimp floating over America is “unacceptable.”
On Thursday, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal that the balloon is a violation of Americans privacy and that it was “imperative [Blinken] tells Chairman Xi and his government that their military adventurism will no longer be tolerated.”
In a statement on Friday, McCaul said the balloon could’ve been shot down already when crossing over water, and requested a briefing from the Biden administration.
Biden was first briefed on the aircraft on Tuesday, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“This balloon should have never been allowed to enter U.S. airspace. Instead, the Biden administration allowed it to continue so that it now poses a direct and ongoing national security threat to the U.S. homeland, while at the same time threatening the privacy of every American,” McCaul said in the statement. “I am calling on the Biden administration to quickly take steps to remove the Chinese spy balloon from U.S. airspace.”
Other top foreign affairs lawmakers spoke out against the balloon including Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif, the incoming chair of the subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, who tweeted Thursday that it was “unacceptable.”
Texas lawmakers also chimed in on Friday, condemning Biden and the discovery of the balloon.
“Everything about the Biden admin’s response to the Chinese spy balloon reeks of indecision and weakness. They can’t decide whether to shoot it down or not. They can’t decide whether to go to China or not,” Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted. “China has been spying on us pervasively. They also commit genocide, use slave labor, and threaten us and our allies. Staggering to think a balloon changes everything for Team Biden.”
Cruz’s comments come two days after he introduced a resolution calling for the release of Houston resident Mark Swidan, who has been detained by China since 2012.
“The Biden Administration’s failure to protect the U.S. mainland from Chinese spy balloons is an example of how his foreign policy weaknesses threaten our national security. Put an end to Chinese spying on Americans–whether in our airspace or through our phones,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-San Angelo, tweeted.
Pop quiz time. What are you doing if you see the Chinese spy balloon above your house?
— Beth Van Duyne (@Bethvanduyne) February 3, 2023
A: Introduce it to the 2nd Amendment.
B: Ask Eric Swalwell to get the Chinese to move it.
C: Offer Hunter Biden’s laptop as a sacrifice.
D: All of the above.
Comment below!
“I promise you Xi Jinping does not have our best interest at heart -- it’s time for Joe Biden to start acting like it,” Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Sherman, wrote on Twitter, in response to a tweet from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan.
There’s a reason Joe Biden hasn’t shot down the Chinese spy balloon.
— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) February 3, 2023
Connect. The. Dots.
“What is so hard to understand...CHINA IS NOT OUR FRIEND,” Rep. Randy Weber, R-Friendswood, tweeted. “Shoot down the Chinese spy balloon NOW.”
Some Democrats also condemned the discovery, including Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen who tweeted “This is unacceptable! The American people deserve answers to why this was allowed to happen,” in response to the balloon’s identification as a surveillance tool.
Ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-NY, tweeted that the presence of the balloon is “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty” and that Blinken was right to postpone his diplomatic trip to China.
“Beijing must begin acting responsibly if it wants to stabilize US-China relations,” he said.
WWII-era Japanese balloon bombs
This isn’t the first time some Americans are alarmed about balloons from nations with anti-U.S. tensions.
Between November 1944 and April 1945, Japan launched more than 9,000 incendiary “balloon bombs” during the war in hopes of sparking fear, chaos and forest fires in the Western U.S. They succeeded, with about 300 of them ultimately being found or observed on the American mainland. Researchers estimate that the true number of balloon bombs reaching the U.S. was about 1,000.
One actually delivered a fatal blow to civilians in 1945 when it blew up in Bly, Oregon, killing six Americans, including five children.
It was the only known instance of U.S. civilians on the mainland to die at the hands of an enemy during World War II.