Washington adds 6 Chinese companies to its blacklist after dropping balloon

Alanbat - Rahaf Abdullah 

The US Treasury Department announced the addition of six Chinese companies to its blacklist after destroying a Chinese balloon equipped with spy tools that were flying over the United States, preventing those companies from accessing US technologies and goods without permission, according to the Washington Post.

"China’s use of high balloons violates our sovereignty and threatens the national security of the United States,” Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez said in a statement Saturday.

Washington dropped the balloon off its Atlantic coast after flying over sensitive military sites, with Beijing confirming that the balloon is civilian and used for search purposes, especially meteorology, while the United States said pictures taken by US military aircraft showed that it was equipped with spy tools.

On Friday, on the orders of President Joe Biden, a U.S. Air Force fighter jet dropped a "high-altitude object” over Alaska, a White House spokesman said, without giving further details about its nature or source.