BEIJING: Beijing confirmed on Monday a balloon spotted flying over Latin America is Chinese, while the United States worked to recover what it claimed was an unmanned spy craft it shot down at the weekend.

China has expressed fury at Washington’s decision to shoot down a device that it insists was an unmanned weather surveillance aircraft that had veered off course last week.

Beijing acknowledged on Monday that the latest balloon, spotted by US and Colombian officials flying over Latin America at the weekend, was also Chinese.

Its foreign ministry said the device was of “a civilian nature and used for flight tests”.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2023