After Shooting Down Chinese Spy Balloon, US Briefed India, Other Partners

A top American military commander said on Monday that a few weeks after shooting down what they thought was a Chinese spy balloon, the US military had a short conversation with India and a few other similar countries to explain what happened.

Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, who is in charge of the US Pacific Air Forces, said that the US side met with most of the air chiefs of the area behind closed doors.

Early in February, the US shot down a big Chinese balloon that they said was spying on important military spots all over the US.

Off the coast of South Carolina, the US used fighter jets to bring down the balloon. This caused a huge diplomatic problem, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had to cancel a trip to China because of it.

Over a year ago, there were accounts of an unidentified flying object over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

“It’s true that we talk about it. Wilsbach told a small group of reporters, “I’m not willing to share what we’ve learned from analyzing the pieces of the balloon we got after it was shot down.”

He was answering a question about whether the US shared its worries about the Chinese spy balloon with India. Over a year ago, there were reports that some flying objects had been seen in some parts of India.

The head of the US military is in India for a big air drill that the two countries are doing together.

Gen. Wilsbach said it is important to protect each country’s right to control its own skies.

“We think that your airspace here in India is your independent airspace, and you should decide who can fly there.

“We have countries that don’t always agree with that, and they just decide they’re going to fly in it, whether it’s your airspace, our airspace, or Canada’s,” he said.

There were rumors that the Chinese spy balloon that the US shot down had also flown over Canadian land.

Gen. Wilsbach said that breaking any country’s sky rules is a violation of international law and norms, which should make people worried.

“We need to try to get them to follow the rules,” he said.

“Most of the air chiefs in the area talked to us for only a few minutes. The leader said, “It was behind closed doors.”

Defense ties between India and the US have been getting better over the last few years.

In June 2016, the US named India a “Major Defence Partner.” This made it possible for India and the US to share important military equipment and information.

Over the past few years, the two countries have also signed important defense and security agreements, such as the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016, which lets their armies use each other’s bases to fix things and get more supplies.

The two countries also signed the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) in 2018. This agreement allows the two armies to work together and allows the US to sell high-end technology to India.

India and the US signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) in October 2020 to strengthen their defense links.

The pact allows the two countries to share high-tech military equipment, supplies, and geospatial maps.