China Says Will ‘Safeguard Interests’ Over Balloon Shootdown

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BEIJING (AP) — China stated Tuesday it would “resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests” over the capturing down of a suspected Chinese language spy balloon by the US, as relations between the 2 international locations deteriorate additional.

The balloon prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a highly-anticipated go to to Beijing this week that had provided slight hopes for an enchancment in relations.

China claims it was a civilian balloon used for meteorological analysis however has refused to say to which authorities division or firm it belongs.

International Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday reiterated that the “unmanned airship” posed no menace and entered U.S. airspace unintentionally.

Mao once more criticized the U.S. for overreacting reasonably than adopting a “calm, professional” method, and for utilizing drive in bringing the balloon down Saturday within the Atlantic Ocean simply off the U.S. coast.

Requested if China wished the particles returned, she solely reasserted that the balloon “belongs to China.”

“The balloon does not belong to the U.S. The Chinese government will continue to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” Mao stated at a each day briefing with out giving additional particulars.

Chinese language International Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning gestures throughout a press convention on the Ministry of International Affairs in Beijing, Thursday, Oct 13, 2022. China stated Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, it would “resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests” over the capturing down of a suspected Chinese language spy balloon by the US, as relations between the 2 international locations deteriorate additional. (AP Photograph/Liu Zheng, File)

Beijing’s perspective has hardened significantly following a surprisingly delicate preliminary response on Friday, through which it described the balloon’s presence as an accident and expressed “regret” for the balloon having entered the U.S.

Subsequent statements have grown firmer, in the identical tone used to confront the U.S. over points from Taiwan to commerce, expertise restrictions and China’s declare to the South China Sea. China says it lodged a proper grievance with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, accusing Washington of getting “obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice.”

Current developments have laid naked the extraordinarily fragile nature of what many had hoped could possibly be a manageable financial, political and navy rivalry.

U.S.-China tensions have stirred deep concern in Washington and amongst a lot of its allies. They fear that outright battle might have a powerful damaging influence on the worldwide financial system, particularly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine final 12 months, on which China has largely sided with Moscow.

In this photo provided by Chad Fish, the remnants of a large balloon drift above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, Feb. 4, 2023. (Chad Fish via AP, File)
On this picture offered by Chad Fish, the remnants of a giant balloon drift above the Atlantic Ocean, simply off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen beneath it, Feb. 4, 2023. (Chad Fish through AP, File)

Balloons both suspected of or confirmed to be Chinese language have been noticed over international locations from Japan to Costa Rica. Taiwanese media have reported that mysterious white balloons had been noticed over the island not less than 3 times up to now two years.

That’s particularly regarding as a result of China claims Taiwan as its personal territory to be introduced beneath its management by drive if essential and routinely sends warships and navy plane into the island’s air protection identification zone and throughout the center line of the Taiwan Strait dividing the edges.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Nationwide Protection has by no means explicitly linked the balloons to China. Nonetheless, the latest furor over the Chinese language balloon within the U.S. introduced consideration again to those mysterious sightings.

The dimensions of the Chinese language balloon within the U.S., in addition to the gear connected to it, had all drawn intense hypothesis as to its function. Together with Washington, most safety specialists dismissed Beijing’s assertions that the balloon was supposed for meteorological reasonably than spying functions.

However it doesn’t seem like any climate balloon that Cheng Ming-dian, head of Taiwan’s Central Climate Bureau, has seen.

“In the meteorology world, I haven’t found a person who has seen or heard of a weather balloon that looks like this,” Cheng stated.

Whereas China has in latest months moderated the abrasive tone of its diplomacy, it’s “still pursuing those broader, long-term strategic agendas on the economic, tech and security fronts,” stated Collin Koh Swee Lean analysis fellow on the Institute of Defence and Strategic Research at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological College.

“In other words, if you cast the change in rhetoric aside, we’re in fact not seeing any real meaningful improvement in the extant China-U.S. relations, which will continue to be dominated by rivalry,” Koh stated. “And the latest spy balloon incident only looks set to broaden the schism.”

Related Press reporter Huizhong Wu contributed to this report from Taipei, Taiwan.