HONG KONG — China said Monday that U.S.-owned hot air balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times since early last year.
“It is not uncommon for American balloons to illegally enter other countries’ airspace,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular press briefing.
“The United States should first reflect on itself and change course instead of smearing other countries,” he added.
Wang did not provide further details about the alleged raids or say whether the balloons appeared to be military in nature or used for espionage purposes. He said that China reserves the right to use “any means necessary” to deal with such situations.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby responded Monday by saying: “We are not flying surveillance balloons over China.”
“I am not aware of any other aircraft that we are flying into Chinese airspace,” he told reporters at a White House briefing.
Wang’s comments were the first such accusations Beijing has made against Washington since earlier this month the US military shot down a balloon off the coast of South Carolina that the Biden administration said China was using. for surveillance. China says it was a civilian unmanned aircraft conducting meteorological research that had veered off course and that the United States overreacted by shooting it down.
Wang also said China had no information on the three unidentified objects shot down over North America in recent days, one over Alaska on Friday, one over Canada on Saturday and one over Michigan on Sunday.
It’s not clear if those objects, which were flying much lower, are linked to China or the earlier globe. Wang said that he had no information on them.
Pentagon officials told reporters late Sunday that they had not been able to assess what the objects were and had “acted out of an abundance of caution.”
“The PRC spy balloon was, of course, different in the sense that we know exactly what it was,” said Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for national defense and hemispheric affairs, using the initials of China’s formal name. People’s Republic of China.
Officials said the apparent increase in detection of unidentified flying objects could be partly explained by the fact that the Pentagon has been taking a closer look at US airspace since the balloon was shot down, including the improvement of radar systems.
Meanwhile, China is monitoring an unknown flying object on its own soil, according to The Paper, a Chinese news outlet. In a report on Sunday, it said maritime authorities in the eastern province of Shandong had alerted local fishermen that they were preparing to shoot down the object, which was detected above the waters near the coastal city of Rizhao.
The report did not give details about the object, such as where officials believe it might have originated, and Wang did not respond to a question from reporters about it.
Collin Koh, a research fellow at the Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said the Chinese report of an unidentified flying object could be interpreted as an attempt by Beijing to divert attention from its surveillance balloon. . after previous damage control efforts proved ineffective.
“The target seems to be quite obvious to highlight to the entire international community that China is also a victim,” he said, though that doesn’t necessarily mean the target isn’t there.
In addition to shooting down the Chinese balloon, Washington responded by postponing a planned visit to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and blacklisting six Chinese entities it says are linked to China’s aerospace programs, a decision that Wang criticized.
However, Wang said the two countries maintain necessary communications.
“The key is to be cool, professional and measured,” he said.
Jennifer Jett reported from Hong Kong and Janis Mackey Frayer from Beijing.
moses wins, Larissa Gao, Jace Zhang and rebecca shabad contributed.
