(Reuters) - A U.S.

military fighter jet shot down a believed Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it initially got in U.S.

airspace and activated a remarkable-- and public-- spying saga that aggravated Sino-U.S.

relations.President Joe Biden stated he had actually issued an order on Wednesday to remove the balloon, however the Pentagon had actually suggested waiting till it might be done over open water to secure civilians from debris crashing to Earth from countless feet (meters) above industrial air traffic.

They successfully took it down, and I wish to match our pilots who did it, Biden said.Multiple fighter and refueling aircraft were involved in the objective, however only one-- an F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia-- took the chance at 2:39 p.m.

(1939 GMT), utilizing a single AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air rocket, a senior U.S.

military authorities said.China strongly condemned the military strike on an airship that it says was used for meteorological and other clinical purposes, and which it stated had actually strayed into U.S.

airspace totally accidentally -- claims flatly dismissed by U.S.

authorities.

China had plainly asked the U.S.

to handle this properly in a calm, professional and restrained manner, Chinas foreign ministry said in a declaration.

The U.S.

had insisted on utilizing force, obviously overreacting.

The balloon was shot down about six nautical miles off the U.S.

coast of the Atlantic Ocean, over fairly shallow water, possibly assisting efforts to recuperate elements of the Chinese monitoring devices over the coming days, U.S.

officials said.One U.S.

military official said the particles field was expanded over 7 miles (11 km) of ocean, and multiple U.S.

military vessels were on site.The downing of the balloon came shortly after the U.S.

government purchased a stop to flights in and out of 3 airports in South Carolina-- Wilmington, Myrtle Beach and Charleston-- due to what it said at the time was an undisclosed national security effort.

Flights resumed on Saturday afternoon.While Saturdays shootdown concludes the military dimension to the spying saga, Biden is likely to continue to deal with intense political examination from Republican challengers in Congress who argue he stopped working to act rapidly enough.A senior administration official said after shooting down the balloon, the U.S.

government spoke directly with China about the action.

The State Department likewise informed allies and partners worldwide, the official said.Questions stay about just how much information China may have gathered throughout the balloons trek throughout the United States.The balloon went into U.S.

airspace in Alaska on Jan.

28 before moving into Canadian airspace on Jan 30.

It then returned to U.S.

airspace over northern Idaho on Jan.

31, a U.S.

defense official said.

Once it crossed over U.S.

land, it did not return to open waters, making a shootdown difficult.U.S.

authorities did not openly disclose the balloons existence over the United States until Thursday.

Its clear the Biden administration had actually wished to hide this nationwide security failure from Congress and the American people, said U.S.

Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican who leads your house of Representatives Armed Services Committee.Bidens emphasis on Saturday that-- days ago-- he ordered the balloon shot down as quickly as possible might be an effort to react to such critics.Former President Donald Trump, Bidens potential competitor in the 2024 election, called earlier today for the balloon to be shot down, and has actually sought to depict himself as stronger than Biden on China.

The U.S.

relationship with China is likely to be a significant theme of the 2024 governmental race.Washington had called the balloons appearance a clear offense of U.S.

sovereignty and informed Beijing about the shootdown on Saturday, a U.S.

official said.Still, officials on Saturday appeared to soft-pedal the balloons impact on U.S.

national security.

Our evaluation-- and were going to learn more as we pick up the particles-- was that it was not most likely to provide substantial additive worth over and above other (Chinese) intel capability, such as satellites in low-Earth orbit, the senior U.S.

defense official said.A Reuters photographer who experienced the shootdown said a stream came from a jet and hit the balloon, but there was no explosion.

It then started to fall.The Pentagon examines that the balloon belonged to a fleet of Chinese spy balloons.

On Friday, it stated another Chinese balloon was flying over Latin America.

Over the previous a number of years, Chinese balloons have actually previously been identified over nations throughout 5 continents, including in East Asia, South Asia and Europe, the U.S.

official said.The believed spy balloon prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to hold off a visit to China this week that had been expected to begin on Friday.The postponement of Blinkens journey, which had actually been accepted in November by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, was a blow to those who saw it as a past due chance to stabilize a significantly fractious relationship between the two countries.China is keen for a steady U.S.

relationship so it can concentrate on its economy, damaged by the now-abandoned zero-COVID policy and overlooked by foreign financiers alarmed by what they see as a return of state intervention in the market.Source: Reuters-- Agencies