China Is Not Happy About the United States Shooting Down Its ‘Weather’ Balloon
In shooting down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, the United States was accused by China on Monday of using force without cause. According to China, this "seriously impacted and damaged both sides' efforts and progress in stabilizing Sino-U.S. relations."
After passing over sensitive military locations across North America, the balloon was brought down by the United States off the coast of Carolina. China insisted that the flyover was the result of an accident involving a passenger plane.
A formal complaint regarding the "U.S. attack on a Chinese civilian unmanned airship by military force," according to Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng, was filed with the American Embassy on Sunday.
However, the US "turned a deaf ear and insisted on indiscriminate use of force against the civilian airship that was about to leave the US airspace, obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice," according to Xie.
The balloon's appearance in the skies above the United States dealt a serious blow to already tense and deteriorating U.S.-Chinese relations that have been going downhill for years. It led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly postpone a crucial trip to Beijing intended to defuse tensions.
Insisting that the balloon was a Chinese civil unmanned airship that unintentionally entered American airspace, Xie reiterated China's position and called it "an accidental incident caused by force majeure."
He declared that China would "resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, resolutely safeguard China's interests and dignity, and reserve the right to make further necessary responses."
According to American officials, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the shootdown after being told that it would be best to conduct the operation over water. Military officials concluded that bringing the balloon down over land from a height of 60,000 feet (18,000 meters) would put people on the ground in an unnecessary danger.
"What the U.S. has done has seriously impacted and damaged both sides' efforts and progress in stabilizing Sino-U.S. relations since the Bali meeting," Xie said, referring to a recent summit between Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Indonesia. Many had hoped that the meeting would spark positive momentum for repairing relations, which have sunk to their worst point in years.
Continuing China's insistence that the object was a civilian balloon intended for meteorological research, had limited maneuverability, and entered U.S. airspace by accident diverging from its course, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning offered no new information on the incident on Monday. She also omitted to mention what further actions Beijing intended to take in retaliation for the way Washington handled the situation and the cancellation of Blinken's trip, which would have made him the highest-ranking American official to visit China since the COVID-19 pandemic's outbreak.
Mao stated at a daily briefing that although "we have stated that this is completely an isolated and accidental incident caused by force majeure, the U.S. still hyped the incident on purpose and even used force to attack." "This is a reckless and unacceptable action."
From Latin America to Japan, Chinese-made balloons have been spotted. According to Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki, at least two sightings of a flying object resembling the one shot down by the U.S. over northern Japan have occurred since 2020.
In relation to the most recent case in the United States, he added, "We are still analyzing them."
A balloon that was recently spotted over Latin America was identified as Chinese by Mao, who described it as a civilian airship that was being used for flight tests.
The airship severely deviated from its intended course due to weather conditions and a lack of self-control, according to Mao, and accidentally entered the space of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Washington and Beijing are at odds over a variety of topics, including trade and human rights, but China is especially sensitive about alleged violations of its sovereignty and territorial integrity by the U.S. and others.
Beijing vehemently opposes U.S. military sales to Taiwan and foreign politicians' visits to the island, which it asserts as Chinese territory that should, at all costs, be reclaimed by force.
In response to Nancy Pelosi's visit in 2022, it threatened military drills that were seen as a practice for an invasion or blockade and launched missiles over the island. Beijing also stopped talking to the United States about topics unrelated to military tensions, such as climate change.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Pelosi's replacement, was forewarned by Mao last week not to visit Taiwan because China would respond angrily.
China will adamantly defend its security, development, and sovereignty interests, Mao declared. China has no right, according to McCarthy, to limit his travel options.
Asserting that they are actively provocative, China also takes offense when foreign warships and military surveillance aircraft pass through the Taiwan Strait and fly off its coast in international airspace.
In 2001, a Chinese fighter pilot was killed when a U.S. Navy plane conducting routine surveillance near the Chinese coast collided with it, damaging the American plane and forcing it to make an emergency landing at a Chinese naval airbase on the southern Chinese island province of Hainan. Prior to the United States expressing regret for the Chinese pilot's passing and for having landed at the base without permission, China detained the 24-person U.S. Navy aircrew for ten days.
Another significant source of conflict is the South China Sea. China protests when U.S. Navy ships pass Chinese military installations in the strategic sea, which it virtually completely claims.
"The presence of this surveillance balloon over the United States in our skies is a clear violation of our sovereignty, a clear violation of international law, and clearly unacceptable," Blinken said at a news conference with his South Korean counterpart on Friday. And we have explicitly stated that to China.
According to Blinken, "I believe that any country that has its airspace violated in this manner would respond similarly, and I can only imagine what the reaction would be in China if they were on the receiving end."
Oriana Skylar Mastro, a Stanford University expert on Chinese military affairs and foreign policy, advised against accepting China's weather balloon explanation.
According to Mastro, "this is kind of what countries always say about surveillance assets."
It's possible that China made a mistake and lost control of the balloon, but Mastro doubts that it was done on purpose to obstruct Blinken's visit.
The U.S. administration decided to publicly shoot down the balloon instead of dealing with Beijing privately as is customary, perhaps in an effort to influence China's behavior going forward.
"They're probably going to ignore that and carry on as usual. Therefore, I don't think there will be a really obvious path to better relations in the near future.
This report was written by AP journalists Caroline Chen in Beijing, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, and Tian Macleod Ji in Bangkok.
