June 28 (Reuters) - The Chinese spy balloon that passed over the U.S. early this year used American technology that helped it collect audio-visual information, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing preliminary findings from a closely held investigation. The findings support a conclusion that the craft was intended for spying, and not for weather monitoring as China had claimed, the report said. But the balloon did not seem to send data from its eight-day passage over Alaska, Canada and some other contiguous US states back to China, WSJ said. In February, the U.S. shot down the balloon, which had flown over sensitive military sites, sparking a diplomatic crisis. Reporting by Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman & Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source: Wall Street Journal June 29, 2023 05:19 UTC