The People's Republic of China confirmed Friday that the balloon craft floating over the northern United States is Chinese.
China claimed that the airship is a civilian research craft that was blown far off course by prevailing winds, and that it regrets the incident.
"The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed Friday. "Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course."
