Washington on Monday rejected Chinese claims that high-altitude US balloons have flown over Chinese airspace more than 10 times since the start of 2022 without permission.
Recall that last weekend, the US military shot down a Chinese reconnaissance balloon, after which Secretary of State Anthony Blinken canceled a trip to Beijing, intended to ease tensions between the two countries.
“Since last year, US high-altitude balloons have carried out more than 10 illegal flights in Chinese airspace without the consent of relevant Chinese authorities,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said during the meeting. of a briefing in Beijing.
The White House quickly denied China’s claims. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson called them an attempt by Beijing to justify itself.
“Any claim that the US government uses observation balloons over the PRC is false,” she said in a statement. “It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence gathering … which it has used to violate the sovereignty of the United States and more than 40 countries on five continents,” said Watson.
China was unable to provide “a credible explanation” for the incursions (into US airspace), she added.
Earlier, National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby told MSNBC, “That’s absolutely not true. We’re not flying balloons over China.”
