Joe Biden says downed mystery objects ‘not related to China’

After a week of tense criticism, US president Joe Biden has finally cleared the air on three downed mystery objects over the US in recent days.

US President Joe Biden has admitted that the three most recent downed mystery objects were likely unrelated to China.

His Friday morning (AEDT) announcement came with the vow that he wouldn’t hesitate to bring down any aerial object seen as a threat to the United States.

“If any object presents a threat to the safety, security (of) the American people, I will take it down,” Biden said, just several days after ordering the downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon and three other objects.

“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were,” he said of the latter. “But nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country.”

US President Joe Biden speaks about the administration's response to recent aerial objects at the White House House in Washington, DC. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

“The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions, studying weather or conducting other scientific research.”

In addition to the three recent downings of the unidentified craft shot down off the Alaskan coast, over Canada’s Yukon territory, and over Lake Huron, Biden spoke at length for the first time regarding the Chinese spy balloon, which was shot down on February 4.

“I gave the order to shoot it down as soon as it would be safe to do so,” Biden said.

“The military advised against shooting it down over land because of the sheer size. … Instead, we tracked it closely.

We analysed its capabilities, and we learned more about how it operates.

“I make no apologies for taking down that balloon.”

A suspected Chinese spy balloon was photographed in the sky over Billings, Montana. Picture: AFP

Biden appeared hopeful of striking a tone of re-engagement with China, with POTUS expected to speak with President Xi Jinping in the coming days.

“I expect to be speaking with President Xi, and I hope we are going to get to the bottom of this,” Biden said

“We seek competition, not conflict with China. We’re not looking for a new Cold War,” he added.

Biden’s initial hesitancy to down the first ‘Chinese spy balloon’ sooner drew fierce criticism from political rivals and the broader US community after it reportedly travelled over sensitive US facilities from Alaska to South Carolina.

Legislators from both parties, including senators who received a classified briefing Tuesday, called on Biden to address the public after the series of apparently unprecedented shootdowns.

“I think the public needs and deserves to know more. A lot of what we’ve been told are facts that the American people could know and should know, without any harm to our national security,” Democrat senator Richard Blumenthal said earlier this week.

The moment a US fighter jet shot down suspected Chinese spy balloon. Picture: Angela Mosley

Picture: Angela Mosley

“I’ve urged repeatedly that on this topic and others, the administration could be more forthcoming.”

Republican senator Tommy Tuberville said this week, “My phone is ringing off the wall and we got a president of the United States who is not saying anything.”

“Get out there and tell the people we’re in good shape, we know what’s going on, and let’s go on with our lives. But for some reason, we have no leadership right now.”

– With AFP and the New York Post