Images purported to show China spy balloon emerge on social media

Fighter jets were mobilized but military leaders advised President Joe Biden against shooting the balloon out of the sky for fear debris could pose a safety threat, advice Biden accepted, U.S. officials said.
 

The United States took "custody" of the balloon when it entered U.S. airspace and had observed it with piloted U.S. military aircraft, one the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Video shot by an eyewitness showed what appeared to be the suspected spy balloon.

Reuters could not independently confirm the images were of the spy balloon, but they were filmed over Billings, Montana after authorities issued a ground stop as the military mobilized assets including F-22 fighter jets in case President Biden ordered the balloon be shot down.

The man who shot the video, Chase Doak, said that the object had remained stationary in the sky for over half an hour.

The incident recalls the lengths to which Beijing and Washington have been willing to go to spy on each other amid rising tensions between the superpowers.

"The balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground," Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters.

Blinken is expected to travel to China next week for a visit agreed to in November by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was not clear how the discovery of the spy balloon might affect those plans.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

China and the United States, the world's two largest economies, have experienced tensions of late, clashing over Taiwan, China's human rights record and its military activity in the South China Sea.