U.S. House unanimously condemns China for balloon surveillance

In a symbolic move on Thursday, a House resolution condemned China’s surveillance balloon program. The surveillance balloon that floated through U.S. airspace last week is part of a program spanning 40 countries, a State Department official said Thursday. The United States is sharing information about the program with other countries to determine the scope of the operation. China said the balloon was for weather research, but U.S. officials said the debris from the balloon, which carried a jetliner-sized surveillance payload, is inconsistent with a weather balloon.

Why did they shoot this balloon and not others? Previous balloons had dipped into American airspace for a short time, said the Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Melissa Dalton, and this balloon remained in U.S. airspace for much longer and traveled further. Some senators, including Senator Marco Rubio, said balloons offer steady surveillance over a particular area and real-time video and audio.

Dig deeper: Read William Inboden’s column in WORLD Opinions about whether this Chinese spy balloon incident will wake up America.