obviously about the position of the pentagon. the chinese are still sticking to the original story that this is just a research balloon used for weather purposes. that s right. when the chinese talk about this, they do sound uncomfortable. you have to ask yourself if the roles were reversed, if this was american surveillance airship drifting over china, how would the u.s. respond but you re right the chinese are saying this is a harmless weather balloon, it is not a spy airship it was mistake that an intent to drift over the continent of the united states, accusing the u.s. of raising tensions unnecessarily, they re urging calm, appealing for calm and that there s no reason for them to cancel antony blinken s visit to china. but, you know the chinese have been accused
the bottom line is that he had very harsh words and he said that, you know, this was a clear violation of uses sovereignty to have this airship flying into u.s. airspace. he said that it was irresponsible that the chinese let this happen or flew this balloon at that moment right when he was planning to travel to china, and of course china has a different version of events. they say that it was regrettable and it was a weather surveillance balloon, not a spy ship, and it was a mistake. it was not meant to fly over the continental u.s.. but clearly, raising diplomatic tensions, and in a sense, it is embarrassing for china, because obviously, it doesn t make them look particularly efficient or effective, and i have other ways to spy on the u.s., of course. yeah, what do you make here of the two drastically different characterizations of what is going on here, as you mentioned, the chinese saying that this is a research balloon usually for weather purposes, and we have the pentagon pre
tuesday and apparently will continue to do so for several more days or less as you know it s already flown over alaska and montana and near several u.s. facilities with nuclear processes within their facilities. can you believe that? it s true. and while the white house says it s keeping all options on the table, so far it has decided against shooting it down after, quote, strong recommendations from defense officials. now, for its part china says it s a civilian airship what s to worry. a research balloon that simply drifted off course. well, the white house says it doesn t present a military or physical threat to people on the ground even though they re skeptical about the chinese claim. however republican lawmakers want that thing brought down right now. unless china s working with the biden administration to help find some of those missing documents scattered all over the united states, then this is unacceptable and this should not
sensitive sites we have, the fact we have not taken some type of heavy action against it just talked about is incredible to me. john: will the u.s. change its behavior toward the communist nation? we will ask the chairman of the house select committee mike gallagher coming up. gillian: greg palkot on how china is responding, but first jennifer griffin. hi, jennifer. the balloon has left montana air space as he were reporting, it was launched from mainland china. the pentagon is not buying china s apology and explanation this was a civilian research balloon blown off course. brigadier general pat ryder says the spy balloon is maneuverable and has changed course. not saying whether the chinese government is controlling the direction. it does not pose a risk to the people on the ground, it is traversing the continental
handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure. caused by unexpected causes, essentially. so now the chinese government is admitting it is one of its balloons, but saying that it is a research balloon, mostly used for weather research. the question of course is the extent to which this will be accepted in the united states, and now, crucially, this new statement has come out days before what was to be a planned trip by antony blinken, the us secretary of state, to china. now being reported that that trip has aptly been postponed. this seems to of been an attempt by the chinese side to try and hold things together, because of course this has caused extra tension, the idea of having a balloon floating over us