The United States is monitoring a high-altitude surveillance balloon it believes belongs to China, national defense officials said Thursday.
This discovery is seen as risky in adding to the tension between Washington and China which is already on the rise.
A Pentagon spokesman said, the balloon had been tracked over northern America for several days.
According to the official, the object flew over Alaska's Aleutian Islands and through Canada before appearing in the town of Billings in Montana on Wednesday.
It is said to travel at altitudes well above commercial air traffic and pose no military or physical threat to people on the ground.
Even so, military leaders decided not to shoot him because of concerns about the potential danger of falling debris.
However, they are already ready with fighter jets, including F-22s in case the White House orders the object to be shot down.
