Pentagon says another Chinese spy balloon is transiting Latin America

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

News

4.1 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2023

⏱️ 84 minutes

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Summary

The Pentagon says a second Chinese spy balloon is currently transiting Latin America but doesn’t look like it’s headed toward the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his trip to Beijing after the first spy balloon has been spotted over the United States. The Chinese foreign ministry claims the balloon is a “civilian airship” used for weather research and it “deviated far from its planned course.” Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which will be holding hearings on the balloons in the near future. Tester tells Anderson Cooper he’s seeking “some explanations” and wants to make sure if this ever happens again, “no good things” will come out of it for China.

Plus, the highest peak in the Northeast could face wind gusts over 130 mph which could make the wind chills as cold as minus 100 degrees. Francis Tarasiewicz is a weather observer and education specialist at Mount Washington Observatory. He walks AC360 through how he prepares to go outside in temperatures that could feel like 100 below zero.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Good evening, we begin tonight with breaking news.
0:03.0	The Pentagon now saying a second Chinese spy balloon is currently crossing Latin America.
0:08.0	That's on top of the one now floating somewhere over this country, exact whereabouts unknown.
0:12.9	Something so unexpected to be what it is, where it is that it left people asking questions
0:17.2	like this.
0:20.0	What planet is that?
0:21.9	Actually, it's a good question.
0:23.9	It's not Mars or Venus.
0:25.3	The balloon is the size of three buses equipped with solar panels for power and surveillance equipment.
0:31.1	Spotted yesterday crossing Montana, including over ICBM sites, it dripped it across Nebraska
0:36.4	and then into the Midwest today, spotted as it made its way across Missouri, floating
0:40.9	at about 60,000 feet, apparently following the prevailing winds.
0:44.6	Now, in a moment, we'll take a look at where it could be heading next.
0:47.9	Today, China said it was, quote, civilian airship, a weather research vehicle, Ghana Stray,
0:53.4	and Secretary of State Blinken postponed his upcoming trip to Beijing.
0:58.7	Any country that has its airspace violated in this way, I think, would respond similarly,
1:04.7	and I can only imagine what the reaction would be in China if they were on the other end.
1:10.4	I mean, Tom, the Pentagon, which has been tracking the balloon and weighing whether or not
1:14.0	to shoot it down, is not ruling anything out.
1:18.5	At this stage, what I can tell you is, again, we're reviewing options.
1:23.8	I'm not going to go into more specifics than that.
1:26.1	Now, a number of Republican lawmakers weighed in today, sort of the former president and
	...

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