President Joe Biden is tracking the Chinese spy balloon above Montana “closely” after first being briefed on its presence on Tuesday.
The White House defended the delay in making information about the high-altitude surveillance balloon public and Biden’s decision not to take military options against it, adding the president “acted immediately to take all necessary steps to protect [the country] against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information” and will continue “to receive regular briefings and updates from the national security team.”
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“It does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday on Air Force One en route to Philadelphia. “He asked the military to present options,” she added of Biden. “It was the strong recommendation by [Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin, Chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark] Milley… not to take kinetic action because of the risks to safety and security of the people on … ground.”
Biden will “always put the safety… and the security of the American people first,” according to Jean-Pierre.
Jean-Pierre declined to confirm when the decision was made to cancel Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but she did say that Biden agreed that “it was not appropriate to travel to the People’s Republic of China at this time.” She also declined to specify when and under what conditions it would be “appropriate” for Blinken to make the trip.
“The presence of this balloon in our airspace, it is a clear violation of our sovereignty, as well as international law, and it is unacceptable,” she said. “Under this president, we are more prepared to outcompete China, protect our national security, and advance a free and open Indo-Pacific than ever before.”
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Jean-Pierre did not provide details regarding the prospect of an upcoming call between Biden and Xi, only saying that “our national security team has communicated directly with the Chinese government about this at several levels.”
