President Joe Biden has said he has no apologies for shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the coast of the United States.
He said the balloon was used for surveillance, but the three other objects dropped in North America were unlikely to be foreign spy craft.
He said the US would now improve detection of similar aerial objects.
Mr. Biden also said he would speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping soon about this month’s incident.
“I hope we get to the bottom of it, but I make no apologies for deflating that balloon,” Mr. Biden said at the White House on Thursday.
China has denied that the balloon was used for surveillance, saying instead that it flew while collecting weather data.
But Mr. Biden reiterated the view of U.S. officials that the balloon, which flew over the country at about 40,000 feet (12,000 meters) before being blown up by a U.S. fighter jet over the Atlantic Ocean, was actually for spying. was used .
He said that the US is continuing to discuss this issue with China. “We are not looking for a new Cold War,” Mr. Biden said.
