The development comes as the original spy balloon continues to move east across the US.

The US military is tracking a Chinese high-altitude spy balloon as it makes its way over the northern United States.

This is everything we know so far about the spy balloon:

The suspected Chinese spy balloon over US skies has shocked many Americans and set Twitter alight with memes and responses about the mysterious Chinese surveillance balloon.

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As a suspected Chinese spy balloon frays tensions between China and the US, the US Navy said that it had experienced something similar decades ago - and did shoot at what they believed was a spy balloon.

However, they were actually shooting at planet Venus.

Defence officials have denied that the suspected Chinese spy balloon has exploded or been shot down by the US military.

Fox News correspondent Jen Griffin reported that officials had said that the balloon over Montana has not exploded and was not shot down by the US military.

Videos purporting to show the balloon exploding are not real, officials said.

Earlier videos on social media claimed that the balloon had exploded.

“Ok, so here’s what I just caught I few minutes ago out my window. I saw a jet go by so fast and then explosion in the sky,” tweeted an user by the name Dolly Moore.

The user posted a photo and a video showing smoke in the sky and claimed it was from Billings Montana.

The balloon is a piece of spying equipment carried by wind currents, usually equipped with radar and solar powered, typically operating at 80,000 - 120,000ft.

Due to its slower movement, the balloon is able to scan more territory than satellites.

Amid heightened tension between China and the US after the flight of a Chinese balloon over American airspace, Beijing says trust with ally Russia has only deepened.

China said that the political trust with Russia has continued to deepen after vice foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu visited the country this week and met with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

The foreign ministry also said in its statement that China is willing to work with Russia to implement their strategic partnership and promote further progress in their relationship.

China’s foreign ministry has accused American officials of using the balloon incident to smear China.

In a statement on Saturday the ministry said some US politicians and media had used the incident “as a pretext to smear” China, which was something Beijing “resolutely opposed,” reported South China Morning Post.

In a separate statement top diplomat Wang Yi said: “China is a responsible country and has always strictly abided by international law. We do not accept any groundless speculation and hype.

“In the face of unexpected situations, what both parties need to do is to maintain concentration, communicate in a timely manner, avoid misjudgments, and manage and control differences.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled his first official visit to Beijing on Friday following the discovery of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over United States airspace, as Pentagon officials tracked the aircraft eastwards across the country.

In a flurry of briefings throughout the day, American diplomatic and military officials condemned the Chinese government while giving few details about the nature or location of the craft. Officials stressed that the balloon posed no danger to civilians on the ground.

Read Richard Hall’s full report below.

The US military has said it does not currently plan to shoot down thealleged Chinese spy balloon as it does not pose a threat militarily or to civilians, but that targeting it could create a huge amount of potentially dangerous debris.

As Secretary of Sate Antony Blinken postponed a visit to Beijing amid a spike in tensions since the Pentagon revealed it was tracking the object, China has said it is a weather monitoring device and apologised.

On Friday, a senior military officer briefing the media in Washington DC was asked several times why the US had not shot it down, particularly given the US’s claim it is a spy balloon, and that this is not the first time such an incident had occurred.