![]() ![]() But did these other – did any of these other 39 countries come to you and say, “Hey, oh, the same thing has happened to us”? and embassies around the world, is to make sure that a broad array of countries understand this threat and are in a position to protect against it. And so just as we have confronted virtually every other challenge we face from the PRC with allies and partners by our side, part of what we are doing in the engagement with our allies and partners, both here in D.C. This to us was very clearly a violation of our sovereignty, but this program did not only target the United States. ![]() We – what we think is important is for the American public and people around the world to at least have a broad sense of what this was. We will let other countries speak to what has happened to them. MR PRICE: Matt, when a surveillance balloon goes into your airspace with the express point of collecting intelligence on countries around the world, that would strike us to be a violation of sovereignty. QUESTION: How do you know, and were these incursions over these other 39 countries also violations of sovereignty? MR PRICE: There has been public reporting of other countries that have said that they. There has been public reporting on countries that have said. You presumably have seen videos, pictures of these types of systems overflying other countries as well. MR PRICE: So we have a variety of means at our disposal, Matt. But how do you know that 39 other countries were affected by similar incursions? How do you know these other – I mean, obviously, the U.S. MR PRICE: We are having conversations with countries that we are not having with you, sorry to say, and it’s up to these countries to. Of course, these countries are free to speak to what has happened to them should they choose to do so. MR PRICE: I am not in a position to release the countries. Why I’m asking you – that’s why I’m asking. MR PRICE: Matt, we released a number today, but we did not release the countries. QUESTION: So since you just said it, 40 countries, 5 continents. QUESTION: No, can we stay on the balloon? This is a program that not only threatened and violated our sovereignty but the sovereignty of dozens of countries, so we think it’s important to share what it is that we know, to hear questions and to answer questions from allies and partners around the world, and to approach this challenge as we have many other challenges we face from the PRC with allies and partners by our side. We’ve engaged them via our embassies around the world. We have engaged them via the State Department here in Washington, D.C. You’ve heard us speak in recent days of our efforts to engage allies and partners. ![]() We’ll look at continuing these broader efforts to expose and to address the PRC’s larger surveillance activities that pose a threat to our national security and that to our allies and partners as well. We also said today in the release that you mentioned that we’re exploring taking action against PRC entities linked to the PLA that supported the balloon’s incursion into U.S. We did so in the tactical case of this balloon. Now, we are always going to protect our interests. They are presumably getting questions from countries all over the world about the nature of this program, about previous violations of sovereignty of some 40 countries across five continents, as we said earlier today. China’s irresponsible actions were visible to us but also to the world, and China as a result has a lot to answer for. This is not something that only the American people have been able to see in recent days. This was a profoundly irresponsible act in response to which we acted responsibly and prudently to protect our interests. China acted irresponsibly by violating our sovereignty. You heard from the Secretary yesterday, you’ve heard from the President and others our deeply held view on this, and a view that the rest of the world has been in a position to see. MR PRICE: So let me say a couple things about this. Now that we know the balloon carried surveillance equipment and China wasn’t truthful about it, is the State Department considering countermeasures like sanctions against the Chinese Government? You shared some information about the balloon, the Chinese balloon. Department Press Briefing – February 9, 2023 ![]()
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