China has used an entire fleet of balloons to spy on various countries on five continents. 

White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre announced this at a briefing. 

“All these balloons are part of the PRC's balloon fleet designed for reconnaissance operations, and [...] have violated the sovereignty of other countries.

And over the past few years, Chinese balloons have already been spotted over countries on five continents," she said.

Jean-Pierre noted that the United States has already discussed this topic with its allies and partners.

The Associated Press agency, citing the US State Department, reported that there were more than 40 countries over which Chinese balloons flew. 

US authorities claim that these are high-altitude surveillance balloons equipped with high-tech equipment capable of "collecting communications signals and other sensitive information".

The US State Department also said that the analysis of the remains of the Chinese balloon is incompatible with the explanation from Beijing that it was just a weather probe.

As reported by the Japanese news agency Kyodo with reference to its own sources, the operation using a balloon over the American territory was carried out by the Chinese military unit for space and computer warfare.

The reconnaissance balloon was developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Space Technology Research Agency for both civilian and military use, but the unit is actually operated by the military. 

It will be recalled that the Pentagon used force and shot down a Chinese reconnaissance bullet that was caught tracking the northern territories of the United States.

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