BEIJING (AP) — China on Monday accused the United States of indiscriminate use of force by shooting down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, which “has severely affected and broken efforts and progress by both sides to stabilize China-U. S. relations. “
The U. S. shot down the balloon off the coast of Carolina after passing through sensitive military sites in North America. China insisted the flyover was a twist of fate involving a civilian airliner.
Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he submitted a formal form to the U. S. Embassy on Sunday about the “U. S. attack. “
“However, the U. S. The U. S. turned a deaf ear and insisted on the indiscriminate use of force against civilian aircraft that was about to leave U. S. airspace. “In the U. S. , it overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of foreign laws and practices,” Xie said.
The balloon’s presence in the sky over the United States dealt a severe blow to already tense U. S. -China relations that have been in a downward spiral for years. That prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a high-stakes vacation in Beijing to ease tensions.
Xie reiterated China’s insistence that the balloon was an unmanned Chinese civilian aircraft that entered U. S. airspace by mistake, calling it an “accidental incident caused by force majeure. “
China will “resolutely safeguard the valid rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, resolutely safeguard China’s interests and dignity, and reserve the right to give other responses,” he said.
U. S. President Joe Biden issued the slaughter order after being told the most productive time for the operation would be when he was over water, U. S. officials said. 18,000 meters) would pose an undue threat to others on the ground.
“What the United States has done has seriously affected and broken the efforts and progress of both sides to stabilize China-US relations since the Bali assembly,” Xie said, referring to a recent meeting between Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Indonesia. Many hoped to create positive momentum for ties that have plummeted to their lowest point in years.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning provided no new main points on Monday, reiterating China’s insistence that the object was a civilian balloon intended for meteorological research, had little ability to steer itself and entered U. S. airspace. The U. S. government is out of its way. Nor did he specify what further steps China intended to take in reaction to Washington’s handling of the matter and the cancellation of Blinken’s trip, which would have made him the highest-ranking U. S. official to make a stopover since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We said it was a completely remote and accidental incident caused by force majeure, but the United States still exaggerated the incident and even used force to attack,” Mao told a daily news briefing. “This is unacceptable and irresponsible. “
Balloons believed or known to be Chinese have been spotted from Latin America to Japan. Japan’s leader’s deputy chief cabinet, Yoshihiko Isozaki, told reporters Monday that a flying object similar to the one shot down in the United States has been spotted at least twice over the north. Japan since 2020.
“We continue to analyze them as the newest case in the United States,” he said.
Mao showed that a Chinese balloon was recently spotted over Latin America and described it as a civilian airship used for flight tests.
“Affected by weather situations and due to its limited self-control capability, the aircraft veered seriously from its established course and entered the Latin American and Caribbean area,” Mao said.
Washington and Beijing are at odds on a number of issues ranging from industry to human rights, but China is more susceptible to alleged violations by the US. The U. S. and others of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Beijing is strongly protesting U. S. military sales to Taiwan and visits by foreign politicians to the island, which it claims as Chinese territory, to be retaken by force if necessary.
It reacted to a 2022 of then-states Unidos. La House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched missiles over the island and organized threatening military trainings that were noted as a practice session for an invasion or blockade. Beijing also halted talks with the United States on issues as they replace weather that are not similar to military tensions.
Last week, Mao warned Pelosi’s successor, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, not to go to Taiwan, suggesting China’s reaction would be just as loud.
“China will firmly protect its sovereignty, security and progression interests,” Mao said. McCarthy said China has no right to dictate where and when it can travel.
China also opposes when foreign army surveillance planes fly off its coast in airspace and when U. S. and foreign warships cross the Taiwan Strait, accusing them of being actively provocative.
In 2001, a U. S. Navy aircraft was taken into custody. A U. S. military conducting a surveillance regime near the Chinese coast collided with a Chinese fighter jet, killing the Chinese fighter pilot and damaging the U. S. plane. The U. S. military military forced an emergency landing at a Chinese naval airbase on the South Chinese island. China’s Hainan. La province detained all 24 members of the U. S. Navy team. U. S. for 10 days until the U. S. They expressed remorse over the death of the Chinese pilot and landing at the base without permission.
The South China Sea is the main source of tension. China claims nearly all of the strategically key sea and protests when U. S. Navy ships claim to be strategically key. U. S. Elements of the Chinese army pass through there.
At a news conference Friday with his South Korean counterpart, Blinken said “the presence of this surveillance balloon over the United States in our skies is a transparent violation of our sovereignty, a transparent violation of foreign law and clearly unacceptable. “that transparent for China.
“I think any country whose airspace was violated in this way would react in the same way, and I can only believe what the reaction would be in China if they were on the other end,” Blinken said.
China’s weather balloon explanation should be rejected altogether, said Oriana Skylar Mastro, an expert on Chinese military affairs and foreign policy at Stanford University.
“It’s a popular thing that countries say about surveillance assets,” Masro said.
China would possibly have made a mistake and lost the ball, but it’s unlikely to be a planned attempt to cut Blinken’s visit short, Mastro said.
For the US administration, the resolution to go public and then fire marks a break with its same old technique of dealing privately with Beijing on these issues, hoping to change China’s long-term behavior.
However, Magro said, Beijing is unlikely to respond positively.
“They will probably reject it and continue as things are. So I don’t see a transparent path to better relations for the foreseeable future. “
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AP journalists Tian Macleod Ji in Bangkok, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and press assistant Caroline Chen in Beijing contributed to the report.
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