(TargetLiberty.org) -On Monday China alleged that there were more than 10 high-altitude balloons that belonged to the United States that had entered its airspace since the start of 2022. This allegation came only weeks after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon which Beijing has maintained was gathering weather information and simply drifted off its course.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin during a briefing in Beijing said that it was “common for U.S. balloons to illegally enter the airspace of other countries.” He added that since last year there have been more than 10 such illegal flights into China’s airspace without any authorization or approval from the Chinese departments. Wang did not provide any further information regarding the balloons or their link to the U.S. government. China’s response to the balloons was also not made clear.
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson slammed Beijing for these claims by tweeting that they were “false.” Watson added that China was the county operating a “high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection,” which has “violated(d) the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents.”
The Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down by the U.S. military off the coast of South Carolina, but before being shot down it had traversed across American airspace and over some sensitive military sites.
Beijing has maintained that America overreacted by shooting the balloon down, as it was a civilian weather balloon that had drifted off course.
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