Focus on Arts and Ecology

February 17, 2023 

U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that three unmanned aerial objects shot down over the weekend by the U.S. military were not connected to the Chinese airship that was shot down on February 4 and were "most likely tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions."

He said the administration didn't know exactly what the objects were, but there was no evidence they were connected to China or were "surveillance vehicles" from any other country. 

Earlier this month, the U.S. shot down an unmanned Chinese airship that Beijing said entered U.S. airspace due to force majeure. China has strongly denounced the move.

Biden said the U.S. intelligence community is still trying to learn more about the three unidentified objects: one shot down over Alaska, one over Canada and a third that plunged into Lake Huron. The administration has said the objects were downed because they posed a threat to civil aviation.

More headlines: 

· China's top legislature strongly condemned and firmly opposed a recent U.S. House of Representatives resolution on the entry of a Chinese civilian unmanned airship into U.S. airspace

· Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said on Wednesday that the United States violated the spirit of international law and international practice when it shot down an unmanned Chinese airship

· The United States has illegally flown its high-altitude balloons over Chinese airspace more than 10 times without Chinese authorities' approval since the beginning of last year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday

· China opposes U.S. placing six Chinese entities on export controls 'entity list'

· China lists Lockheed Martin, Raytheon as unreliable entities over arms sales to Taiwan region

(Sources: China Report)