Newsman: China has accused the United States of “illegally” flying high-altitude balloons into its airspace more than 10 times since January 2022. Meanwhile, maritime authorities in China’s Shandong province said Sunday they spotted an “unidentified flying object” above waters near the port city of Rizhao.
At a regular news conference Monday, ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin claimed it is “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.
Wang also accused the US of frequently sending warships and planes to carry out close-range reconnaissance against China, which he claimed amounted to a total of 657 times last year – and 64 times this January in the South China Sea.
The accusation, made by the Chinese Foreign Ministry without evidence, comes less than a day after China said it was preparing to shoot down an unidentified object flying near its eastern coast.
“For the longest time, the US has abused its own technological advantages to carry 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.”
It’s not clear why China did not publicize these details earlier, or whether it responded to the alleged intrusions when they occurred.
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“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 US of “hyping up and exaggerating” the situation and “using it as a pretext to illegally sanction Chinese enterprises and institutions.”
Wang made the comments in response to a question about the Chinese entity that owns the balloon downed by US fighter jets on February 4.
The spokesperson also lashed out at the move by the US Commerce Department on Friday to add six Chinese companies tied to the Chinese military’s aerospace programs to its Entity List, restricting them from obtaining US technology without government authorization.
‘Unidentified flying object’ near China’s coast
Maritime authorities in China’s Shandong province said Sunday they spotted an “unidentified flying object” above waters near the port city of Rizhao and were “preparing to shoot it down,” state-run news outlet The Paper reported.
In a text message to fishing vessels, maritime authorities in the neighboring port city of Qingdao told crews to be on alert to avoid danger and assist with debris recovery efforts if possible.
“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 did not specify what kind of object it was, where it might have come from or at what altitude it was flying.
As of Monday afternoon local time, Chinese authorities and state media had not provided any update, and it is unclear if the object has already been taken down.
