The US downed and recovered a Chinese balloon, not balloons.
The 2023 incident is pretty well written up on Wikipedia[1].
There was one Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down. Subsequent shoot-downs of balloons over the arctic and Great Lakes were not attributed to China - one that was recovered was definitively identified as a private weather balloon.
There were also previous Chinese surveillance balloon overflights - as well as one over Central America - that were not shot down.
The 2023 incident is pretty well written up on Wikipedia[1].
There was one Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down. Subsequent shoot-downs of balloons over the arctic and Great Lakes were not attributed to China - one that was recovered was definitively identified as a private weather balloon.
There were also previous Chinese surveillance balloon overflights - as well as one over Central America - that were not shot down.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident