Washington: Japan is among countries that have been targeted by China’s effort to collect information using spy balloons, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

According to the newspaper, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman held a briefing on China’s balloon surveillance for around 150 people from some 40 embassies on Monday, after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon over the U.S. mainland late last week.

U.S. government officials have also started to share detailed information with officials from Japan and other countries whose military facilities were targeted by China, the newspaper reported.

Citing several U.S. government sources, the report said that China has been operating surveillance balloons for several years, collecting information on military assets in countries such as Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

A U.S. official was quoted as saying that China combined “an unbelievably old technology” with “modern communications and observation capabilities” in the balloon surveillance effort.

Officials told the paper that some of the balloons are equipped with digital cameras or electrooptical sensors, as well as radio signal and satellite transmission functions.

Referring to a white object that was spotted floating over Japan in 2020, a Japanese government official was quoted as saying, “In hindsight people are realizing that was a Chinese espionage balloon.

JIJI Press