The ChiCom spy balloon spotted over Costa Rica on Friday was “blown off course” from its “weather research” task, Chinese officials said at a news briefing on Monday, according to Bloomberg.
“It has made an unintended entry into the airspace of Latin American countries,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning at a regular news briefing Monday in Beijing. “It’s for civilian purposes, and it is affected by the weather and with limited self-steering capability.” When asked by a reporter why China had lost control of two balloons across the Pacific Ocean, Mao said “I’m not an expert, so it’s not convenient for me to answer the question.”