Satellite images show China’s extensive balloon program based on Hainan Island in the South China Sea, and U.S. officials say they know that is where the Chinese balloon launched before making its way across the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. believes a fleet of Chinese airships and balloons has flown over dozens of countries conducting surveillance from near space.
卫星图像显示，中国在南中国海海南岛开展了广泛的气球项目，美国官员说，他们知道中国气球在飞越太平洋之前就是从这里发射的。 美国认为，中国的一批飞艇和气球已经飞越了数十个国家，从近太空进行监视。
In the last two weeks, U.S. military fighter jets shot down at least four aerial objects, including a Chinese spy balloon that flew across country from Alaska to South Carolina over an eight-day stretch.
President Biden addressed the situation for the first time on Thursday, more than two weeks after the initial Chinese spy flight that traveled across the continental United States for several days. Biden said the additional objects were “most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” and not Chinese spy aircraft.
But the Biden administration is still assessing the three unknown objects, and White House National Security Council Director of Strategic Communications John Kirby said Friday they might never know what the objects were.
在过去的两个星期里，美国军用战斗机击落至少四个空中物体，其中包括一个中国间谍气球，该气球从阿拉斯加飞到南卡罗来纳州，为期八天。
星期四，拜登总统首次谈到了这一情况，这是中国首次在美国大陆进行数天的间谍飞行两周多之后。 拜登说，这些额外的物体”很有可能是绑在私人公司、娱乐或研究机构上的气球，研究天气或进行其他科学研究”，而不是中国的飞机。
但拜登政府仍在评估这三枚不明物体，白宫国家安全委员会战略通讯主任柯比星期五说，他们可能永远不知道这些物体是什么。
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made a “deep mistake” with Beijing’s spy balloon saga, a former head of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service says.
Sir Alex Younger, the former head of Britain’s spy agency, told the BBC that China’s assumption of how the US would react to surveillance balloons being sent across its territory “wasn’t properly thought through”.
He added that should US parts be found in the balloons, four of which have now been shot down, it would further encourage Washington DC to restrict China’s access to advanced technology.
And he said the growing diplomatic and military crisis potentially revealed China’s “manifest hypocrisy,” just as Beijing attempts to coax nations out of the US’ orbit and into its own.
前英国秘密情报局负责人称，中国国家主席习近平在北京间谍气球事件上犯了一个”严重错误”。
英国前间谍机构负责人亚历克斯·杨格爵士(Sir Alex Younger)对BBC表示，中国关于美国对被派往其领土的监视气球做出何种反应的假设”没有好好考虑”。
他还说，如果在气球中发现美国部件，其中四个已被击落，这将进一步鼓励华盛顿特区限制中国获得先进技术。
他说，日益严重的外交和军事危机可能暴露出中国的”明显的虚伪”，正如北京试图哄骗各国脱离美国的轨道，进入自己的轨道。
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When a Chinese spy balloon floated across the U.S. earlier this month, it ignited a firestorm of concern on Capitol Hill and led to the cancellation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China amid already fraught relations between the two countries.
China has maintained it was a weather balloon that veered off course. But the balloon was doing something much more sinister, according to the U.S.
There have since been a number of other incidents involving flying objects, raising even more concern.
Here’s what we know about the balloon and the other objects:
本月早些时候，当中国间谍气球飞越美国上空时，它点燃了国会山上的关注之火，导致美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯（Antony Blinken）的访华行程取消，两国关系本已十分紧张。
中国一直坚持认为它是一个偏离航向的气象气球。 但据美国媒体报道，气球正在做更邪恶的事情。
其后，又发生了数宗涉及飞行物体的事件，更令人关注。
下面是我们对气球和其他物体的了解:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/06/china/china-response-suspected-spy-balloon-intl-hnk/index.html
China maintains the vessel, which was shot down by the US over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, was a weather balloon thrown off course. And it has shown signs of both being caught off guard by the incident and wanting to stem the potential damage, analysts say, not only framing the situation as the result of factors beyond its control, but also offering a rare expression of “regret” over it in a statement Friday.
While some crucial facts of the situation remain unclear, Beijing’s official response – and the timing of the incident, which resulted in the US’ postponement of the Blinken visit – suggest its leadership is now grappling with how to handle a diplomatic crisis that has inflamed the very tensions it had been hoping to mend.
中国坚持认为，这艘周六在大西洋上空被美国击落，是一个偏离航线的气象气球。 分析人士说，有迹象表明，它既被这一事件措手不及，又希望阻止潜在的破坏，不仅将局势归咎于它无法控制的因素，而且星期五发表的一份声明也罕见地表达了对此的”遗憾”。
尽管某些关键事实仍不清楚，但北京的官方反应——以及导致美国推迟布林肯访问的事件发生的时间——表明其领导层正在努力处理一场外交危机，这场危机激化了它原本希望修复的紧张局势。
What might it be spying on?
According to Layton, the suspected Chinese balloon is likely collecting information on US communication systems and radars.“Some of these systems use extremely high frequencies that are short range, can be absorbed by the atmosphere and being line-of-sight are very directional. It’s possible a balloon might be a better collection platform for such specific technical collection than a satellite,” he said.
— Read on edition.cnn.com/2023/02/02/asia/us-china-spy-balloon-mission-intl-hnk-ml/
它可能在监视什么？据莱顿称，疑似中国气球可能正在收集有关美国通信系统和雷达的信息。
“其中一些系统使用极高的频率，这些频率很短，可以被大气吸收，视线非常定向。对于这种特定的技术收集来说，气球可能是一个比卫星更好的收集平台，”他说。—在 edition.cnn.com/2023/02/02/asia/us-china-spy-balloon-mission-intl-hnk-ml/上阅读
