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KONTAN.CO.ID – WASHINGTON. New facts about the Chinese spy balloon that crossed American skies earlier this year have again come to light. The balloon is said to use US-made technology in its operations.

Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Wednesday (6/28) reported that US defense and intelligence agencies found the balloon was carrying commercially available US equipment.

All of this equipment is operated in conjunction with more specialized Chinese sensors and other equipment to collect photos, videos and other information to send to China.

The results are believed to support the conclusion that the Chinese balloons were really used for espionage, not weather monitoring as China claims.

Read also : China: Mysterious balloons belonging to the United States also appeared over Xinjiang and Tibet

Despite this, the balloon does not appear to send data back from its eight-day journey over Alaska, Canada and several adjacent US states back to China.

In February, the United States shot down a balloon belonging to China, suspected of being spy equipment. The incident exacerbated a diplomatic crisis, especially as the balloon flew over a sensitive military site.

The United States has even accused China of setting up a global surveillance program covering more than 40 countries on five continents using similar balloons.

Read also : US military tracks another mysterious balloon flying over America

Also in February this year, Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said Chinese reconnaissance balloons had been sighted in Central America, South America, Southeast Asia, East Asia East and Europe in recent years.

Meanwhile, China also claims to have discovered the presence of a similar US balloon since the beginning of 2022. The US-owned balloon is even said to have entered Chinese airspace without permission more than 10 times.

However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not specifically describe the balloons as belonging to the military or for spy purposes and gave no other details.