Another Surveillance Balloon Is Flying Over Latin America, Pentagon Says

Bloomberg — Another Chinese surveillance balloon is flying over Latin America, according to a Defense Department statement on Friday night.

The discovery earlier of a high-altitude spy balloon over Montana touched off a new row between China and the US and prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to put off his trip to Beijing.

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America,” Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in the statement  “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.  We have no further information to provide at this time.”

VIEW +

How the US and China Are Jostling for Position in Latin America

Washington is seeking to counter China’s growing influence in the region, and the intensifying race between the world’s two largest economies in Latin America is reflected in vaccines, trade and investment

Blinken was scheduled to have meetings in China early next week in the first such visit by a top US diplomat in five years. But the presence of the balloon — which the Pentagon decided not to shoot down — led officials to decide that going now would send the wrong signal.

Read more on Bloomberg.com