The statement comes at a time when relations between the countries are cheering after the Americans shot down an alleged Chinese spy device
Chase Doak/AFP
A China said this Monday the 13th that balloons from the US has entered its airspace “more than 10 times” since January 2022. “In the last year alone, American balloons have flown over China more than 10 times without permission,” Chinese diplomacy spokesman Wang Wenbin said, without giving details. He urged journalists to “look for the American part.” White House national security spokesman John Kirby later denied the allegations. “It’s not true. We don’t. Absolutely not true,” he said in an interview with MSNBC. Over the weekend, Chinese state media reported that an unidentified flying object was spotted off the country’s east coast and that the army was preparing to shoot down the device . Beijing refused to comment on the information, confining itself to asking journalists to contact the Defense Ministry, which did not respond to requests for comment. “It is not uncommon for the United States to illegally invade other countries’ airspace,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. The relationship between the United States and China became even more strained after Washington toppled an alleged Chinese spy device on February 4 that Beijing said was a civilian device. Since then, other artifacts of the same type have been shot down while flying over the United States and Canada the Chinese government has only admitted that the first object came from the country.
On Sunday the 12th, the US military shot down a fourth object in Lake Huron that was flying over its airspace in less than 10 days, two lawmakers and the Pentagon said. The Pentagon said Sunday it still had no details on the other three objects shot down alongside the balloon: one over Alaska on Friday, another over Canada’s Yukon Territory on Saturday, and the most recent over the Sea of Huron on Sunday. The order came from the President Joe Biden Per “recommendation of the military command,” which classified the action as a “precautionary measure,” a government official said, but added that the object described as an octagonal structure with ropes hanging from it did not pose a “military threat,” but rather a risk for civil aviation. The US government has tightened surveillance of the airspace while increasing the number of airstrikes that China denies knowledge of. According to a Pentagon source, the US made several attempts to talk to China, but attempts were denied. “There have been contacts with the PRC (People’s Republic of China) about the balloon,” Secretary of Defense Melissa Dalton told reporters. Beijing confirmed the information and replied that “the US government has failed to create the right environment for dialogue and talks between the armies,” China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
*With information from AFP