Key points
- A US State Department official said last week that China had “overflown these surveillance balloons over more than 40 countries across five continents”.
- Australian government sources say they have no direct information that Chinese balloons have flown over Australia.
- But they are seeking answers from American officials about whether the country was among the 40 referenced in recent briefings.
Australian officials are seeking urgent clarification from their United States counterparts about whether they believe Chinese spy balloons or similar surveillance devices have flown over Australia.
US defence personnel have shot down four objects over America and Canada in the past week, beginning with the downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4.
FBI special agents process material recovered from the balloon off the coast of South Carolina, at the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.Credit:AP
A US State Department official said last week that China had “overflown these surveillance balloons over more than 40 countries across five continents”.
The official added that the Biden administration was directly contacting other countries about the scope of China’s program and to answer their questions.
“We know these balloons are all part of a PRC [People’s Republic of China] fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations,” the State Department official said.
“We are confident that the balloon manufacturer has a direct relationship with China’s military.”
China has said it was a weather balloon that was blown off course and accused the US of overreacting.
Australian government sources said they had no direct information that Chinese balloons had flown over Australia but were seeking answers from American officials about whether the country was among the 40 referenced in recent briefings.
Defence Minister Richard Marles has said he was unaware of any such Chinese surveillance devices flying across Australian skies.
A Defence Department spokesperson declined to comment.
At Senate estimates hearings on Monday, Liberal senator Alex Antic asked Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess about “the incursion of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] spy balloon over the United States” and whether ASIO was aware of any similar incursions or attempted incursions over Australia.
Burgess said he did not comment on operational matters but added: “In my experience that is not the principal means by which people are spying on this country.”
On Monday, a US F-16 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object that was shaped like an octagon and flying at an altitude of 20,000 feet (6100 metres) over Lake Huron in Michigan near the Canadian border.
The US military also shot an object roughly the size of a small car over the coast of Alaska “out of an abundance of caution” on Friday, while another was destroyed over Canada’s Yukon on Saturday.
US President Joe Biden said over the weekend that the Chinese balloon was a violation of international law but not a major breach of national security.
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