A suspected Chinese spy balloon crossed over the inland United States. It went out to sea in North Carolina on the afternoon of the 4th Eastern Time, and was shot down by an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile fired by a U.S. F-22 fighter jet.

(Reuters file photo)

[Central News Agency] The Sino-US reconnaissance balloon turmoil has not yet been resolved. China National Chemical Corporation, which was once accused of being the possible producer of the balloon, issued a clarification statement on its official website on the 24th, stating that it is not a military-industrial enterprise. Airships don't matter.

China National Chemical Corporation stated in the "Clarification Statement": "ChemChina Zhuzhou Rubber Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd. is a company that operates in compliance with regulations and produces civil natural rubber latex (latex) weather balloons, not a military production company. The products we produce The product is used for daily weather forecasting by weather stations around the world, and has nothing to do with the so-called airship flying over the United States.”

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However, some netizens found the "loophole" in this statement, thinking that according to the statement, the reconnaissance balloons that appeared in the United States were produced by military enterprises;

Previously, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin once stated that the floating of China's "civil unmanned airship" into the sky over the United States was entirely an accident and accident caused by force majeure.

He also protested against the US slandering the Chinese civilian unmanned airship as a "spy balloon" and indiscriminate use of force without any evidence.

A senior U.S. defense official said on the 2nd that Chinese high-altitude balloons were flying over sensitive locations to gather intelligence.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was scheduled to visit China, postponed his visit due to the balloon incident.