Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was the first to announce the downing, saying the balloon was being used by China “in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.”
Biden said earlier that on Wednesday he gave the order to the Pentagon to shoot down the device as soon as possible.
A Reuters photographer who witnessed the shoot down said a jet came out of a plane and hit the balloon, but there was no explosion. The balloon then began to fall, according to the photographer.
Military officials had recommended earlier this week not to shoot down the balloon when it was over Montana due to the risk of falling debris, according to authorities.
The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FAA, for its acronym in English) announced after the demolition of the balloon the resumption of arrival and departure flights from three airports in South Carolina -Wilmington, Myrtle Beach and Charleston-, after having been paused earlier in the day due to a “national security effort.”
The FAA had issued a temporary flight restriction to clear the airspace around the South Carolina coast. The advisory blocked flights over 100 square miles, most of it over the Atlantic Ocean, according to a document released by the agency.
The notice warned that the military could use deadly force if the planes violated the restrictions and did not comply with orders to leave the scene.
The Reuters photographer in the Myrtle Beach area was able to see the suspected spy balloon flying over the area, with two US military planes alongside it.
What did China say?
China regretted that a “blimp” used for civilian meteorological and other scientific purposes had wandered into US airspace.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that the “blimp” flight over the United States was a force majeure accident and accused US politicians and media of taking advantage of the situation to discredit Beijing.
The suspected Chinese spy balloon prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a visit to China this week that was scheduled to begin on Friday.
The postponement of Blinken’s trip, which was agreed to by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November, deals a blow to those who saw it as an opportunity to stabilize an increasingly fractious relationship. The last visit by a US Secretary of State was in 2017.
China wants a stable relationship with the United States so that it can focus on its economy, battered by the already abandoned zero-covid policy and neglected by foreign investors alarmed by what they see as a return to state intervention in the market.
The Pentagon said Friday that another Chinese balloon had been observed over Latin America, without saying where exactly.
Blinken postpones his trip to China for “unacceptable” spy balloon flight over the United States. The country suspended activity at three airports due to a “national security effort.