Watch: Pentagon holds briefing amid Chinese spy balloon incident

The Pentagon held a press briefing in the aftermath of a Chinese surveillance balloon being detected over the US.

As expected, it was a primary focus of Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder’s conference.

He has previously said that the government was “tracking” the “high altitude surveillance balloon.”

Dubbed a “spy balloon,” the surveillance tool was spotted over Montana on Thursday, 2 February.

Secretary of state Antony Blinken has now postponed a planned trip to China in the wake of the discovery of the balloon.

It comes after Beijing admitted that it was responsible for its presence over the continental United States.

A spokesperson for the Chinese government claimed it is a “civilian airship” intended for climate research.

The trip has been in the pipeline since Joe Biden met with Xi Jinping last year.

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