How high altitude balloons are taking spying to new heights

Last night the US president said he would make “no apologies” for taking down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the east coast of America, earlier this month. Joe Biden told reporters the country is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down more unknown aerial objects.

Despite confirming the latest three balloons shot down over North America were “probably benign,” questions remain about their provenance. Neither did the president reveal any further information about the original balloon which prompted the international diplomatic incident.

Washington Correspondent, Martin Wall, brings us up to date with what we know so far, how the balloons gather intelligence and how official UFO sightings by the US military have forced The White House to deny extra terrestrial involvement.

China Correspondent, Denis Staunton, has the reaction from Beijing and analyses how the row has set back a stuttering reconciliation between the two superpowers.