Ben Wallace has admitted that Chinese balloons may have spied on the UK, saying he too would have ordered it to be shot down. The stark warning comes after the US took action this week to shoot down a balloon floating over American airspace. The Defence Secretary said it was “not unusual” for satellites to float around in the sky, saying they have done so for years.
He told the Sun: “Is it the case that a Chinese satellite has probably circled Britain and looked at us? I should think yes.”.
The balloon – shot down over the Atlantic – was suspected to be a spy balloon.
The US Department of Defence confirmed its fighter jets brought down the balloon over US territorial waters, believing it was spying on key military sites across the US.
Footage showed the balloon falling to the sea after a small explosion.
China’s foreign ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US’s use of force to attack civilian unmanned aircraft”.
