On Sunday (Feb. 12), mainland media reported that an unidentified flying object was observed over the waters near a northern Chinese port city close to the Bohai Sea, and that the local authorities were prepared to shoot it down.
Sunday, Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper reported that the Qingdao Marine Development Bureau informed fishing boats that an unidentified flying object had been detected over the waters near Rizhao and that authorities were preparing to shoot it down.
The report stated that fishing boats were instructed to be alert and “avoid risks,” but did not specify when the message was sent or when the object was observed.
Please assist in taking photographs as evidence in the event that debris falls around your boat. “Please help salvage it if conditions permit,” the message requested.
The bureau told The Paper that it had sent out a security alert to fishing boats in the area, but it didn’t know what the object was yet.
The People’s Liberation Army is holding a week-long military exercise in the Bohai Strait, which is where the Bohai Sea and the northern part of the Yellow Sea meet. The sighting occurs at this time.
A notice from the maritime safety authorities in Dalian, a port city in the northern province of Liaoning, stated that the exercises began on Sunday.
Additionally, it comes a week after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down over the Atlantic by the United States.
Beijing claimed that the weather-monitoring aircraft had accidentally entered US airspace and denied that it was a surveillance aircraft. It also said that Washington shot down the balloon too quickly.
The saga made diplomatic tensions between the two countries worse, so US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had to cancel a trip to China that was supposed to help “build a floor” in the relationship so that conflicts could be managed and tensions could be reduced.
Additionally, there was talk in the United States of Chinese espionage after the incident.
The Chinese balloon that went down, according to the White House, was a part of a multi-nation surveillance program that Beijing had developed over several years.
According to a senior official from the US State Department, the balloon’s manufacturer had “a direct relationship with China’s military and is an approved vendor for the army.”
Zhuzhou Rubber Research & Design Institute, China National Chemical Corporation’s largest balloon manufacturer, has denied any connection to the balloon incident.
