Biden says it was ‘always my position’ to shoot down Chinese spy balloon

President Joe Biden returned to the White House from Camp David on Monday to say he “always” intended to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon that a US military plane shot down on Saturday.

His comments came amid continued pressure from Republicans in Congress and criticism that he should have acted sooner, with congressional committees poised to investigate the matter and lawmakers demanding more briefings.

Asked if it was always his view to take him down, Biden replied: ‘Oh no, it was always my position. Once it got to the United States from Canada, I told the Department of Defense that I wanted to shoot it down as soon as it was appropriate.

“They came to the conclusion that we should not shoot it down on land, it was not a serious threat and we should wait until it crossed the water.” His comments came as the Pentagon revealed the spy balloon was 200 feet tall and included a massive payload, one reason officials raised concerns about the risks posed by flying debris in the event of an operation to shoot him down on the ground.

The president was also asked why he thought China would commit such a “blatant” act.

After a long pause, he replied, ‘Because they are the Chinese government.’

His comments came minutes after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the shootdown over the waters off the South Carolina coast.

She said it was “not only the most secure option, but it maximized the chance of recovery” of the payload, “giving us a better chance of getting information from Chinese surveillance.”

Biden also said the incident would not weaken US-China relations.

‘We have made it clear to China what we are going to do. They understand our position. We are not going back. We did the right thing,’ she said.

As Navy divers work to recover debris from the downed Chinese spy balloon, a top general said Monday the United States is investigating whether it was carrying explosives, describing it as 200 feet tall, weighing thousands of pounds and with a payload the size of a jet plane.

So, I can’t confirm if it had explosives or not. Anytime you take something like this, we assume that potential exists,” Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command, said on a briefing with reporters.

“We don’t associate the potential of having explosives with a threat to drop weapons, that kind of thing, but out of an abundance of caution, abundance of security not just for our military personnel and the public, we have to make assumptions like that. ‘

The general’s description followed a briefing by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who defended President Joe Biden’s decision to wait and shoot down the Chinese ship until it was off the South Carolina coast on Saturday.

“Because the president decided that they would not shoot it down until they could do it safely, and that meant over water, that gave us an excellent opportunity to gain a better understanding, to study the capabilities of this balloon,” he told the audience. journalists on a call.

Biden ordered the balloon shot down on Wednesday, but on the advice of the US military, it was delayed. until Saturday, with the Air Force sending an F-22 fighter jet armed with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to do the job over the water.

The delay exposed Biden to political attacks from Republicans, many of whom called for him to be shot down on the ground shortly after he was first reported flying over Montana.

“We think the time we had to study this balloon for a few days last week was important and will give us a lot more clarity, not just on the capabilities these balloons have, but also on what China is trying to do.” with them,’ Kirby said.

“It hasn’t gotten a lot of attention and I understand there is criticism of the fact that it went through the United States, but again, we took steps to mitigate any collection capabilities the balloon might have over our sensitive military sites,” he added.

Kirby did not specify what precautions were taken during the multi-day flyby of the balloon.

South Carolina media shared video of balloon debris arriving on a boat near North Myrtle Beach on Sunday.

The debris field is the size of “more than 15 football fields by 15 football fields,” according to the Pentagon.

VanHerck said most of the debris had been collected, but there was a chance some could wash ashore, and he warned people to call authorities and stay away.

Weather conditions had not yet allowed underwater recovery efforts to fully begin, Kirby said.

But Kirby argued that the remains of the balloon would be useful to the US.

“Our efforts to monitor this balloon and what we learn from the recovery will be valuable,” he said.

Kirby declined to answer a question about whether Chinese President Xi Jinping had ordered the balloon mission or was aware of it.

“I would like to refrain from entering into discussions about our intelligence assessments of this,” he said.

Kirby noted that the balloon incident “has done nothing to help improve the US-China bilateral relationship.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken delayed a planned trip to China because of the balloon debacle.

Chinese balloons flew over the US three times during the administration of former President Donald Trump, and Biden administration officials said those flights were not known until after the current president was sworn in.

Biden officials have said they would brief Trump-era officials on the balloon flights, but neither Kirby nor Jean-Pierre said which officials would receive the briefings and whether that would include the former president himself.

“I will say of every indication that we have that it was for brief periods of time, nothing like what we saw last week, in terms of duration,” Kirby said of previous ballooning forays.