China Confirms Second Balloon Over Latin America Is Theirs

 

Washington Post: China claims ownership of second suspected spy balloon above Latin America 

Chinese authorities have confirmed that an “unmanned aircraft” flying over Latin America originated in China, even as Beijing stepped up its protests against the U.S. military’s decision to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that traversed the United States last week. 

At a regular news briefing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that the second balloon came also from China but claimed that it was used for civilian flight tests. “Due to the impact of weather and limited self-steering ability, this aircraft seriously deviated from its scheduled course,” Mao said. 

The Pentagon had identified the vehicle as another suspected Chinese surveillance device, similar to the huge white globe spotted by civilians Wednesday as it hung over the U.S. state of Montana. Beijing said that one was a weather balloon blown off-course.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: It looks like this second Chinese balloon is in Colombian airspace .... Colombia releases more details about second Chinese spy balloon hovering over Latin America (Daily Mail). 

China Confirms Second Balloon Over Latin America Is Theirs  

Second balloon over Latin America is ours - China -- BBC  

Beijing confirms Chinese balloon 'accidentally entered Latin American and Caribbean airspace' -- ABC News Australia  

Balloon over Latin America belongs to China, Beijing says -- CNN  

Second Chinese balloon confirmed over Latin America -- DW

Are Chinese Military Bases About To Pop-Up In The Caribbean?

Of concern to US security interests is China's seaport expansion project at Kingston, Jamaica, as well as at Freeport, Bahamas, China's possible new base of operations 90 miles off the US coast. The projects are an opportunity for Chinese Communist Party intelligence operatives to suborn the sovereignty of Caribbean countries by luring them into "debt trap" economic dependency on China. Sri Lanka's inability to pay back loans for Beijing's modernization of the port of Hambantota (pictured) has resulted in the South Asian country's effective loss of the port. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP via Getty Images) 

Gatestone Institute: Chinese Military Bases in The Caribbean? 

 * China also seems to have a military agenda in the Caribbean region... Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe already is on record expressing China's willingness to deepen military cooperation with Caribbean countries. 

 * Of more concern to US security interests is the ongoing seaport expansion project in the already commercially important port at Kingston, Jamaica, as well as the port at Freeport, Bahamas, China's possible new base of operations 90 miles off the US coast. 

 * China is clearly not a government that honors its agreements.... The US can ill afford any Chinese drive to place under threat any Western Hemisphere country, much less the United States. 

China's Communist Party (CCP) seems to be implementing a multidimensional strategy in the Caribbean, reaping economic, political and potentially military gains a few miles offshore the United States. China's ultimate objective of its Caribbean strategy may well be to confront the US, not only with its presence near the mainland US, but also with a situation analogous to America's military presence in the region of the South China Sea. There, China created new islands in the sea, pledged not to militarize them, then went and militarized them. 

It is important to remember that China also promised Hong Kong autonomy until 2047, then, in 2020, jumped the gun by 27 years. "Hong Kong will be another communist-run city under China's strict control," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared in July. China is clearly not a government that honors its agreements. 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: It will be easy for China to get anything they want from many of these Caribbean states. Many of them are already heavily in debt to China .... China’s Opaque Caribbean Trail: Dreams, Deals and Debt (CJIN).