Rubio on Chinese spy balloon: ‘Not a coincidence’ it traveled over sensitive military sites

NEW YORK (FLV) – In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, said it was not a coincidence that a Chinese spy balloon traveled over sensitive military sites across the United States.

On Saturday, U.S. fighter aircraft successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by (and belonging to) the People’s Republic of China over the water off the coast of South Carolina in U.S. airspace, according to a statement by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.

Austin confirmed the balloon was being used in an “attempt to surveil strategic sites” in the continental United States.

“There’s a symbolic issue at play here. This is not a coincidence that this thing traversed the United States over sensitive military sites leading up to Blinken’s, what was scheduled to be his visit to China. This is deliberate. They did this on purpose,” Rubio said.

“I think they did this on purpose to send a message to the world that they can enter American airspace and do so without us being able to do or willing to do much about it,” he said.

Rubio said he doesn’t know why government officials waited to tell the country about the balloon.

Defense officials said that the balloon had been previously spotted over Montana, but they decided to not shoot it down because of the “potential risks.” They shot it down exactly one week after they first discovered it in Alaska, according to Fox News.

Rubio is a member of the “Gang of Eight,” and will be briefed on the situation by President Joe Biden.

When asked if the United States may learn information from the balloon after retrieving it, Rubio said it is possible that China designed it in such a way where there wouldn’t be much value.

“We’re going to find out more. Those are the kinds of things that obviously will not be discussed publicly, because if they knew what we’d gleaned from it, they’d protect themselves from it in the future. And it also depends on what they’re able to retrieve here,” he said.

“When you shoot something out of the sky and it goes into the ocean, you don’t always get it back in a neat package.”