UK to review airspace security following China spy balloon incursion

British defense secretary Ben Wallace said the United Kingdom would undergo a review of its airspace security. The planned review follows the recent incursion of a Chinese spy balloon into US airspace in recent weeks.

Speaking with the Telegraph on Monday, Wallace said there would be a review of the UK’s airspace security following the Chinese spy balloon that was spotted over US airspace in recent weeks. The US shot down the balloon which Washington said was used to spy on American territory and its security forces have since shot down three flying objects in its airspace.

“The UK and her allies will review what these airspace intrusions mean for our security. This development is another sign of how the global threat picture is changing for the worse,” said Wallace.

According to the outlet, the security review would be used to determine whether changes should be made regarding the surveillance of British airspace. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government “whatever it takes to keep the country safe.”

While Sunak did not comment on national security when pressed whether he was aware of any spy balloons over the UK but said that the country’s capabilities included the Quick Reaction Alert force with Typhoon jets policing British airspace.

Junior transport minister Richard Holden was pressed on Sky News whether it was possible that Chinese spy balloons were used over the UK, Holden said it was possible.

“The government is concerned about what’s going on,” said Holden. “China is a hostile state and we need to be aware of that and the way it acts and behaves.”

On the same day, eight Afghan journalists who worked for the BBC won a legal challenge against the British government over its refusal to relocate them from Afghanistan, saying that they put them at risk of being killed by the Taliban rulers.

The lawyers representing the journalists told the London High Court in December that the British government “betrayed the debt of gratitude” owed to them by refusing to relocate them after the insurgent group took control of Afghanistan in 2021.

The decision on whether to relocate the journalists will have to be taken again, which the lawyers said would need to be done in the next three weeks.