Business owner “Annie” weighs copies of the Chinese Daily News newspaper showing balloon pictures of a suspected Chinese spy, in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
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Damian Dovarganes/AP
Business owner “Annie” weighs copies of the Chinese Daily News newspaper showing balloon pictures of a suspected Chinese spy, in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
BEIJING — China on Monday accused the United States of indiscriminate use of force when the US military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon on Saturday.
The United States dropped a balloon off the coast of Carolina after passing through sensitive military sites across North America. China insisted that the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft.
Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said he lodged a formal complaint with the US Embassy on Sunday about “the US attack on an unmanned Chinese civilian airship with military force.”
The presence of the balloon in the skies above the United States dealt a major blow to the already strained relations between the United States and China which have been in a downward spiral for years. This prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes trip to Beijing aimed at easing tensions.
Xie reiterated China’s insistence that the balloon was a Chinese unmanned civilian airship that blew up in a US mistake, calling it an “accidental accident caused by force majeure.”
China “resolutely safeguards the rights and legitimate interests of Chinese companies, resolutely safeguards the interests and dignity of China and reserves the right to make further necessary responses,” he he said.
American President Joe Biden issued the shootdown order after being advised that the best time for the operation would be when it is on the water, American officials said. Military officials determined that dropping the balloon from an altitude of 60,000 feet (18,000 meters) would pose too much risk to people on the ground.
“What the United States has done has seriously impacted and harmed the efforts of both sides and the progress in stabilizing Sino-US relations since the Bali meeting,” Xie said, b ‘a reference to the recent meeting between Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Indonesia that many hoped for. creates a positive momentum for the improvement of the links which have risen to their lowest level in years.
