US Moves to Recover Chinese Balloon While Weighing Retaliation

The US sent divers to salvage what they believe is spy equipment from the Chinese balloon shot down off South Carolina, as pressure mounted on President Joe Biden to hit back at Beijing with new export controls on sensitive technology.

The government anticipates finding equipment capable of taking detailed photographs, along with other sensors, one person familiar with the matter said. US lawmakers are already demanding to know if the balloon’s payload contains technology from the US or its allies, another person said. Both asked not to be identified because the administration doesn’t want to reveal exactly what it suspects the balloon was carrying.

The balloon, said to be the size of at least two school buses, and its sensors are lying in 50 feet (15 meters) of water and scattered over a seven-mile (11-kilometer) area off Myrtle Beach. Divers and cranes operating from the surface were expected to haul it up in the coming days, potentially giving intelligence analysts crucial insight into Chinese spying capabilities.

While China says the device was a climate-research “airship” that strayed off course, the US argues it was part of a broader spying program by Beijing. With that in mind, Biden administration was calibrating how severely and swiftly to retaliate, people familiar with the matter said.

In a sign of more tension to come, the Chinese Foreign Ministry sharpened its tone Sunday after an American F-22 fighter jet popped the balloon with a Sidewinder missile and sent its payload crashing into the Atlantic Ocean. Beijing called the decision a “clear overreaction” and said it reserved the right to respond.

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