On Sunday, reports claimed that pilots saw a “large white balloon” on their radars northeast of Hawaii. This comes after a government official told Reuters that the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the ocean earlier this month was initially headed for Hawaii.
According to Breibart, the Oakland Oceanic Air Traffic Control Center said that the white balloon was spotted over the Pacific Ocean about 594 miles northeast of Honolulu. It was reportedly flying at an altitude of 40,000 to 50,000 feet.
Last week, speaking on the condition of anonymity, a government official told Reuters that the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic earlier this month originally had a trajectory that would have taken it over Guam and Hawaii but was blown off course by winds. The balloon was discovered hovering over a military base in Montana. The discovery of the ballon prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a planned visit to China.
Last week, Blinken said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that during his visit at a global security conference in Munich, China’s Wang Yi officials did not apologize for the balloon.
“There was no apology. But what I can also tell you is this was an opportunity to speak very clearly and very directly about the fact that China sent a surveillance balloon over our territory violating our sovereignty, violating international law. And I told him quite simply that that was unacceptable and can never happen again. We’re of course not the only ones on the receiving end of these surveillance balloons. More than 40 countries have had these balloons fly over them in recent years, and that’s been exposed to the world,” Blinken said in the interview.
WATCH: In the first meeting between @SecBlinken and his Chinese counterpart this year, China offered “no apology” for flying a spy balloon over the U.S.
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) February 19, 2023
Blinken: “I told him quite simply that [violating U.S. sovereignty] was unacceptable and can never happen again.” pic.twitter.com/ihT8WsF2Xb
He added that the balloon “attempted to surveille very sensitive military sites” and loitered or returned to those locations.
EARLIER: Secretary of State Blinken says “there's no doubt” that the Chinese balloon was intended for “surveillance.”@SecBlinken: As it flew eastward, “it attempted to surveil very sensitive military sites. In some cases, it loitered or returned to them as it progressed east.” pic.twitter.com/IZuWhb68Yu
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) February 19, 2023