US-made balloons flew 10 times over China, Beijing claims
Singapore: Beijing has accused the United States of illegally flying balloons over China 10 times in the past year, escalating its response to Washington’s targeting of its balloon program.
Intelligence officials are gathering information from two unmanned aircraft shot down over Alaska and Yukon at the weekend after more flying objects were identified over Canada and the US.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that US-made balloons had been detected 10 times since January 2022. On Monday, he gave a veiled warning that China could shoot down any US balloon that enters its airspace.
A surveillance balloon seen over Taiwan in September 2021. Credit:NYT
“It is nothing rare for US balloons to illegally enter other country’s airspace,” he said. “The US needs to reflect upon itself and change its wrong practice. We reserve the right to take necessary means to deal with relevant incidents.”
US intelligence officials claimed the Chinese aircraft that was shot down near South Carolina last week was a spy balloon. Beijing maintained it was a civilian weather device that had blown off course.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. Credit:AP
The incident has triggered a diplomatic standoff. The White House last week delayed a trip by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing just as diplomatic relations between the two superpowers appeared to be stabilising. China accused Washington of overreacting by taking down the balloon.
US State Department officials said that the balloon was part of a Chinese military-linked aerial surveillance program that targeted more than 40 countries. Beijing has accused the US of fuelling misinformation about the balloon program. In Canberra, government ministers have not been notified of any Chinese surveillance above Australia. Taiwanese officials on Monday told The Financial Times that dozens of Chinese spy balloons had entered its airspace in recent years.
“I am not aware of any ‘fleet of balloons’,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning. “That narrative is probably part of the information and public opinion warfare the US has waged on China.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday [AEDT] that he had ordered an “unidentified object” be shot down over western Canada. The order, given in consultation with US President Joe Biden, was the third time a high-altitude object had been shot down over the continental US in the past week after US F-22 fighter jets took down another unidentified aircraft the size of a small car over Alaska on Saturday. A fourth object was shot down on Monday over Lake Huron in Michigan near the Canadian border.
“I ordered the takedown of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” Trudeau said on Sunday. “[North American Aerospace Defence Command] shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully fired at the object.”
US and Canadian officials have not confirmed the origin of the unmanned aircraft in Canada, Alaska, or Michigan.
US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday that he believed they were Chinese-made balloons.
“I think the Chinese were caught lying, and it’s a real step back for them… they look really bad,” he told ABC America.
“They’re not just doing the United States, this is a crew of balloons… they’ve probably been all over the world.”
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