China Flew Spy Balloons Over Taiwan, Japan: BBC

New evidence of China's spy balloon program - including flights over Japan and Taiwan - has been uncovered by BBC Panorama.

Photo Insert: The State Office in Washington D.C., United States (placed in the photo)

Japan has confirmed balloons have flown over its territory and said it's prepared to shoot them down in the future, Gordon Corera reported for BBC News.

John Culver - a former East Asia analyst for the CIA - told BBC’s Panorama team that this "had been not just a one-off, but a continuing effort dating back at least five years." He said Chinese balloons were "especially designed for these long-range missions" and some had "apparently circumnavigated the globe."

Working with Synthetaic, an artificial intelligence company that sifted through huge amounts of data captured by satellites, the BBC has found many images of balloons crossing East Asia.

The company's founder, Corey Jaskolski, said one balloon crossed northern Japan in early September 2021. Evidence points to this balloon having been launched deep in Mongolia.

The US State Department says it believes the Chinese balloons are equipped to gather signals intelligence. It says the aircraft discovered over the US had " antennas capable of collecting and geo-locating communications."

All the balloons tracked by Jaskolski are huge and carried communications equipment, thus destroying China’s myth that they were all weather balloons.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic