China shot back at the US on Monday over their ongoing spy balloon issue, claiming that surveillance balloons from the US had been spotted in Chinese airspace more than 10 times since last year.
China’s Comments
During a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that US balloons have “often entered other countries’ airspace illegally.” Wang alleged that since last year, more than 10 high-altitude balloons from the US had illegally entered Chinese airspace without authorization. To this end, he called on the US to “reflect on its own behaviour and change course rather than attacking others and stoking confrontation.”
The spokesperson further accused US military vessels and aircraft of conducting “frequent close-in reconnaissance” on China, including 657 sorties in 2022 and 64 sorties above the South China Sea in January 2023 alone, which he said “seriously undermines China’s national security and regional peace and stability.”
China state media aired documentary not long ago about its air force downing another country's spy balloon in a heroic move
— Selina Wang (@selinawangtv) February 7, 2023
Ironic Beijing accused US shooting down its balloon as violating int'l practice
State media shows it's been focused on balloon development for a while @cnn pic.twitter.com/RtUkz5ggFY
Wang further slammed Washington for “abusing its tech advantage” and engaging in “massive, non-discriminate wiretapping and secret theft operations globally.”
He noted that such operations did not even spare the US’ own allies, as it has previously tapped the phones of leaders of Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and other European countries.
“These operations violate the sovereignty and interests of countries around the world, the international law and basic norms governing international relations, which makes the US the absolute No.1 country in terms of spying and surveillance,” he retorted.
Wang cited intelligence gathered by Anzer, a cybersecurity information platform, which revealed last year that the US’ National Security Agency “stole more than 97 billion pieces of global internet data and 124 billion phone records in 30 days, compromising the privacy of citizens across the world.”
US Dismissal
#BREAKING: Admiral John Kirby refutes claim that The United States is flying spy balloons over China: “There is no US surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace.” pic.twitter.com/ad9D3JwTFd
— Forbes (@Forbes) February 13, 2023
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the US is “not flying surveillance balloons over China.”
“I’m not aware of any other craft that we’re flying over into Chinese airspace,” he added.
Spy Balloon Incident
China’s latest rhetoric comes at the heels of the US shooting down an alleged spy balloon from China that was spotted in US airspace.