China accuses US of ‘illegally’ flying balloons across its airspace

Since January 2022, China has accused the US of “illegally” flying high-altitude balloons into its territory more than ten times, as bilateral tensions boil in the aftermath of a Chinese balloon shot down by American fighter planes after traversing across the continental US.

The charge, made without evidence by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, comes less than a day after China stated that it was preparing to shoot down an unidentified spacecraft flying near its eastern coast.

During a regular news conference on Monday, ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin claimed that “common for US balloons to illegally enter other countries’ airspace.”

“Since last year alone, American high-altitude balloons have illegally crossed China’s airspace more than 10 times without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities,” Wang said.

It’s unclear why China didn’t make these data public sooner

It’s unclear why China didn’t make these data public sooner, or whether it responded to the alleged incursions when they happened.

Wang also accused the US of constantly sending warships and planes to conduct close-range surveillance against China, which he claimed occurred 657 times last year — and 64 times in the South China Sea this January.

“For the longest time, the US has abused its technological advantages to carrying out large-scale and indiscriminate wiretapping and theft of secrets from all over the world, including from its allies,” Wang said, adding that the US is “without a doubt the world’s largest surveillance habitual offender and surveillance empire.”

Wang’s remarks were in answer to a query concerning the Chinese organization that owns the balloon that was shot down by US fighter jets on February 4.

The spokesperson also blasted the US Commerce Department for adding six Chinese companies linked to the Chinese military’s aerospace operations to its Entity List on Friday, preventing them from accessing US technology without a government license.

“China is strongly dissatisfied with this and resolutely opposes it. We will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and institutions,” Wang said.

He accused the United States of “hyping up and distorting” the situation to “illegally sanction Chinese enterprises and institutions.”

An ‘unidentified flying object’ has been spotted near China’s coast.

Meanwhile, maritime authorities in China’s Shandong province stated Sunday that they saw an “unidentified flying object” above waters near Rizhao and were “preparing to shoot it down,” according to state-run news outlet The Paper.

In a text message to fishing vessels, marine authorities in the neighboring port city of Qingdao advised personnel to stay alert to avoid danger and, if feasible, assist with debris collection efforts.

“If debris falls near your boat, please help take photos to collect evidence. If conditions allow, please help salvage it,” the marine development department of Qingdao’s Jimo district said in the message cited by The Paper.

The report didn’t say what kind of object it was, where it came from, or how high it was going.

As of Monday afternoon local time, no information had been provided by Chinese authorities or state media, and it is unknown whether the object has already been removed.

Despite the lack of specifics, the unidentified object has attracted considerable interest in China’s strictly regulated social media, garnering hundreds of millions of views. Many users watched state media coverage of the United States reaction to the Chinese balloon.

According to CNN, the device was part of a fleet of Chinese surveillance balloons that the US intelligence community began following only a year ago. According to officials, the US has spotted suspected Chinese balloons in 40 nations across five continents.

Beijing claims the object was a civilian research airship that had been blown off course

Beijing claims the object was a civilian research airship that had been blown off course. In sharp contrast to the United States, where the balloon caused widespread anxiety, the topic became a source of entertainment on Chinese social media, with nationalists mocking the US for its reaction to a “weather” balloon.

China’s Foreign Ministry has accused the US of “overreacting” and “seriously violating international practice” in shooting down the Chinese balloon, while the Chinese Defense Ministry has said it “reserves the right to use necessary means to deal with similar situations.”

On Sunday evening, Chinese social media was buzzing with anticipation as many users awaited the removal of the object floating off China’s coastline. “Thanks to the demonstration made by the US, we must report it in a high-profile manner when we shoot down (the object),” a top remark on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, wrote.

The mysterious object had become the most trending topic on Weibo by Monday morning, with two associated hashtags receiving over 900 million views.

Many people asked, some with disappointment, why officials had not disclosed any information about the shootdown.

“After waiting all night, why is there still no exciting news?” a comment asked.

The United States has shot down three unidentified flying objects over North American

The reported detection of the unidentified item by China comes as the United States and its allies increase inspection of aerial objects in their skies.

Since Friday, the United States has shot down three unidentified flying objects over North American airspace, over Alaska, northern Canada, and Lake Huron.

According to American defense experts, these recent objects did not pose a “kinetic military threat,” but could pose a safety hazard to civilian aviation due to their height.

“In light of the People’s Republic of China balloon that we took down last Saturday, we have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we detected over the past week,” said Melissa Dalton, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs.