According to sources, Chinese authorities saw an unidentified flying object over the waters near a central naval facility and were preparing to shoot it down.

State-run Global Times said on Sunday that maritime authorities in China's eastern Shandong Province observed an "unidentified flying object" in waters near the coastal city of Rizhao.

Other media reports said that the object was seen close to Qingdao, the location of the People's Liberation Army's main naval base, Jianggezhuang Naval Base.

Another Chinese news site, The Paper, was informed by a representative of the marine development administration that "relevant officials" were getting ready to shoot down the item.

Since unexplained objects were shot down by American fighter jets over Canada and off the coast of Alaska, days have passed. An alleged Chinese spy balloon, roughly the size of three school buses, was shot down by the American military a week earlier off the coast of South Carolina after it had traveled across the whole country.

The blimp, according to the Biden administration, was utilized for spying. According to China, the trip was for meteorological research.

Despite being smaller than the balloon that was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean on February 4, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that the United States believes the unexplained objects fired down were balloons.

According to Schumer, teams were removing debris from the objects and investigating their origins. Compared to the first one, down at around 60,000 feet, the ones down on Friday and Saturday were smaller and were flying at a lower altitude of about 40,000 feet within the area used by commercial aircraft.

The House Oversight Chair claims China has a "massive spy ring" in the US that is "much bigger" than a spy balloon.

The truth is that we were unaware of these balloons up until a few months ago, according to Schumer. It's incredible that we were unaware. They are learning a great deal more now. And the military and intelligence are laser-focused on acquiring and compiling the data, then producing a thorough analysis.

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The friction between Beijing and Washington has risen due to these episodes. The Navy and Marine Corps conducted joint training exercises over the weekend in the South China Sea, which China claims nearly the whole area as its own and strongly opposes any military engagement by other countries.

Although the United States does not have an official stance on sovereignty in the South China Sea, it believes that overflight and navigational freedoms must be protected. It sends ships sailing past Chinese solid outposts in the Spratly Islands many times a year, setting off vehement protestations from Beijing.