American anger over a spying balloon that reportedly surveyed the United States continues to simmer as US congressmen condemned Beijing and the state of Texas plans to ban Chinese citizens from buying US property on national security grounds.
The US House of Representatives passed Thursday a resolution “condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high -altitude surveillance balloon over US territory,” calling it a brazen violation of US sovereignty, Agence France-Presse reports.
Rep. Michael McCaul sponsored the resolution.
The balloon’s days-long flyover from Alaska to South Carolina captured the attention of regular Americans and officials alike, before the US military shot it down off the east coast Saturday.
President Joe Biden was criticized by Republicans for delaying action on the balloon when it was spotted above Montana state. Military officials, however, came to his defense, warning that falling debris could have posed a risk to the American population on the ground if the balloon and its high-tech payload — whose remnants ultimately ended up in the Atlantic Ocean — had been shot down earlier, while it was over land.
A Pentagon official told a separate Senate hearing Thursday that the US is still trying to figure out what exactly the balloon, which it says was deployed for espionage purposes, was looking for.
Wind, solar farm
Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he will sign and enact the draft proposal offered up in November 2022 by fellow Republican state senator Lois Kolkhorst if it passes.
Kolkhorst’s proposal bars Chinese, Russians, Iranians and North Koreans from owning real estate in the US.
Florida, Arkansas, South Dakota and eight other states are also considering legislation to restrict foreign ownership, AFP reports.
Kolkhorst, who proposed the Texas legislation, said the spark behind the bill was the purchase of 130,000 acres (52,600 hectares) by a retired Chinese army officer linked to the Communist Party.