The White House has said there is no indication three flying objects blasted out of the sky over the weekend by the US military are linked to alleged Chinese spying.

The objects may be "tied to commercial or research entities and therefore benign", spokesman John Kirby said.

US and Canadian officials have not yet located or recovered any wreckage from the three downed aircraft.

Beijing earlier accused the US of "a trigger-happy overreaction".

China has denied one of its balloons, which was destroyed by a US fighter jet earlier this month off South Carolina, was being used for espionage, saying it was merely a weather-monitoring airship that had blown off course.

• How has China reacted to the balloon saga?

At Tuesday's daily news conference, Mr Kirby said it will be difficult to determine the purpose or origin of the three other objects until the debris is found and analysed.

Shoot first - it seems that is what the USA do at least since decades.

The land of the free and all that.

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Shoot first - it seems that is what the USA do at least since decades.

The land of the free and all that.

Or the Chinese could have informed the US exactly what these balloons were, what they were doing and why they were over US territory.