Pentagon Admits Chinese ‘Spy’ Balloon ‘Did Not Collect’ Data During US Overflight

Five months after accusing China of dispatching a spy balloon across US airspace and producing another rift in US-China relations, Washington has quietly admitted that the balloon neither collected or transmitted any data during its several-day trip across the US.

Asked a question about what he called a “PRC high altitude balloon,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Thursday that while the US believed the airship had “off the shelf” equipment made in the United States, it did not collect data during its flight over the United States in late January and early February.

“It has been our assessment now that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States or overflying the United States, and as we said at the time, we took steps to mitigate the potential collection efforts of that balloon,” Ryder said.

He added that “we are aware in previous cases, things like drones and other capabilities, what-have-you,” have also used off-the-shelf capabilities, not making a specific reference to purpoted Chinese practices.

The question came in response to a report in the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous US officials, which said that “the balloon was crammed with commercially available US gear, some of it for sale online, and interspersed with more specialized Chinese sensors and other equipment to collect photos, video and other information to transmit to China.”

The report also said the balloon did not transmit any information while over the United States.

That same day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was also asked by reporters about the report. She replied that “the unmanned Chinese civilian airship drifting over the US was an entirely unexpected accident caused by force majeure. The US calling it a “spy balloon” is nothing but a smear against China.”

The high-altitude balloon was shot down by the US Air Force off the coast of South Carolina on February 6, after it had been tracked slowly floating across the US since January 28, when it was spotted over Alaska. The US claimed the balloon was spying on military installations and a U-2 spy plane that flew past the balloon snapped photos that they said gave additional weight to those accusations.

China has maintained that the balloon was a civilian-owned scientific balloon that blew off course.

In the days after, Washington claimed the balloon was just one part of a vast balloon-based surveillance apparatus operated by China and used to spy on its neighbors. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his planned trip to China, which aimed to further heal the rift between Washington and Beijing created by provocative US actions on Taiwan last year, for several months in response to the report. Only earlier this month did the foreign minister finally resume his plans.

The weeks after the shootdown were littered with reports that the investigative crew assigned to the balloon wreckage had determined it had extensive spying capabilities, including what US President Joe Biden has described as “two boxcars full of spy equipment.” Meanwhile, a temporary “balloon hysteria” gripped North America, and US and Canadian air forces scrambled to shoot down several mysterious objects spotted in the sky, the origins of which were unknown but heavily implied to be part of the same alleged Chinese spy balloon operation.

However, recently the administration has sought to put the incident behind it. Earlier this month, Biden called the balloon “more embarrassing than it was intentional” for the Chinese leadership, and Blinken said “that chapter should be closed” as long as it doesn’t happen again.