HANGZHOU, CHINA (LALATE) – Photos of a UFO in China are now “explained”, or are they? A UFO over a Chinese Airport went viral 24 hours. But now Chinese officials have attempted to explain the peculiar instance, unofficially, while still failing to issue a clear, detailed, official statement.

While net reaction was pessimistic to pictures of the UFO over a Chinese Airport earlier this week, officials have since confirmed that such an object did appear in radar. The airport at issue is Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport. Officials now confirm that the object did appear on airport tracking radar at roughly 9 pm local time Wednesday.

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UPDATE: Click here for the October 2010 UFO Report

Moreover, local news reported that the object was spotted by airport authorities. The UFO prompted a stoppage of passenger boarding and outoing flights from Hangzhou for 60 minutes, says local reports.

But what made the story even more bizarre is that local Chinese officials are said to have enjoyed the attention and invited the debate, a stark contrast to the country two decades ago. The New York Times said that China’s reaction has been “an extraordinary reversal in a country where, 25 years ago … expressing belief in them might have been a ticket to jail.”

Local news is reporting that, a s the event happened on Wednesday, one employee at Sina reportedly made three online posts about the aircraft. The online posts thereafter were picked up by local news. Shortly thereafter the posts suddenly were deleted. Press now claim that the author was reportedly instructed to delete the posts. An insider said “it was not the proper time to publicly disclose the information because there was a military connection.”

A day later, a source told China Daily News that officials with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) had determined the identity of the UFO. The source added that CAAC couldn’t release the information because “there was a military connection.”

Today, CAAC was to issue an official statement, believed to confirm the military connection. CAAC reportedly still has not officially commented further.