Gone quiet · last update Jun 29, 2023 / People's Republic of China

The Chinese spy balloon shot down over the US in 2023

Overview · reviewed October 31, 2026

In early February 2023 the Pentagon said it was tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the continental United States, and on Feb. 4 a US fighter jet shot it down off the coast of South Carolina.^[1]^[2] China called the US accusations "information warfare," and the incident led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a trip to Beijing.^[3]^[4]

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China called the US accusations "information warfare," and the incident led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a trip to Beijing.^[3]^[4]

Coverage over time

Share of tracked outlets · monthly average of weekly shares (UTC)

LeftCenterRight

Each bar is the share of the outlets on our Left / Center / Right rating scale that we tracked publishing that week which carried reporting on this story, split by the outlets' ratings. Over more than two years each bar is a month: the average of that month's weekly shares, so the shape stays readable. The weekly table below keeps every week. We track more outlets now than in the archive, so a share keeps earlier and later weeks comparable. An outlet counts once a week however much it published, and outlets in one ownership or syndication group count as one on each side they appear on. A rating describes the outlet, not the report. A gap means no such reports were collected that week, not that nothing was reported anywhere. Weeks run Monday to Sunday in UTC, so a report published on a Sunday evening in US Eastern time counts in the next week. 8 more outlets off the scale (not rated, or outside the left-right graphs) also reported; they are not in this chart. See them.

Weekly counts, outlets and reports (8 weeks with coverage)

Outlets on the rating scale that carried this story each week, of the outlets tracked that week, newest first
Week of (UTC)	Left	Center	Right	Of tracked	Share
Jun 26, 2023	4	11	6	21 of 279	8%
Jun 5, 2023	3	5	4	12 of 265	5%
Apr 10, 2023	0	1	4	5 of 254	2%
Apr 3, 2023	3	7	11	21 of 260	8%
Feb 20, 2023	5	19	5	29 of 184	16%
Feb 13, 2023	22	37	26	85 of 181	47%
Feb 6, 2023	25	42	25	92 of 185	50%
Jan 30, 2023	30	47	25	102 of 190	54%

Latest coverage

The newest reporting in this story's record.

Jun 28, 2023 · first reported · Headline from KTVZ Bend
Chinese surveillance balloon did not collect information over US, Pentagon says

Background

US intelligence officials said the balloon was part of an extensive Chinese military surveillance operation,^[5] and the United States blacklisted six Chinese entities linked to it.^[6] In the week after, US warplanes shot down three more objects over North America, which President Joe Biden said did not appear to be tied to China's program,^[7]^[8] and China accused the United States of flying its own balloons into Chinese airspace.^[9]

The military finished recovering the debris later in February.^[10] In June 2023 the Pentagon said the balloon had not collected intelligence while it flew over the United States.^[11]

Supporting stories (11)

The full record

Each date is when an update was first reported.

All 40 recorded updates

Order

June 2023

Jun 28Chinese surveillance balloon used American technology, but U.S. says it didn't collect infoHeadline from NBC4 Washington · 24 outlets
Jun 5Blinken to travel to China next week, carrying out trip postponed after spy balloon incidentHeadline from Winchester Star · 13 outlets

April 2023

Apr 14Pentagon docs allegedly leaked by Jack Teixeira reveal at least 4 additional Chinese spy balloons: reportHeadline from New York Post · 6 outlets
Apr 2Chinese spy balloon was able to transmit information back to BeijingHeadline from KTVZ Bend · 23 outlets

February 2023

Coverage & sources

Read the reports, see how much was collected over time, or compare outlets by political leaning.

Coverage & sources →