China, US diplomatic friction festers as both trade blame over spy balloons

The Chinese balloon, which was shot down after crossing the continental United States, originally had a trajectory that would have taken it over Guam and Hawaii, Reuters quoted a US official as saying.

The balloon was blown off course, he said.

On February 4, the balloon, which Washington accuses Beijing of using for surveillance and China says was a civilian research vessel, drifted across Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, then Canada and the central United States before it was shot down by the US military off the South Carolina coast.

According to a report by the Washington Post, the US military and intelligence agencies tracked the balloon from when it lifted off from Hainan Island near China’s south coast.

On Monday, US military said it recovered critical electronics from the balloon as well as large sections of the vessel itself.

CHINA WARNS OF COUNTERMEASURES
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Beijing claimed high-altitude US balloons flew over its Xinjiang and Tibet regions. Further, China said it would take countermeasures against US entities that undermine Chinese sovereignty.

At a daily briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gave no details and did not identify the targets of the measures. China has accused the United States of overreacting in bringing the balloon down with a missile fired from an F-22 fighter jet.

“China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures in accordance with the law against the relevant US entities that undermine China’s sovereignty and security,” Wang said at Wednesday’s briefing.

China will “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and its legitimate rights and interests,” Wang said. Washington and Beijing are locked in a tussle over flying objects, especially after the US shot down the Chinese spy balloon.

This week, China countered that US balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times on round-the-world flights since May 2022.

“Without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities, it has illegally flown at least 10 times over China’s territorial airspace, including over Xinjiang, Tibet and other provinces,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular daily briefing on Wednesday.

HAS BALLOON SAGA STRAINED RELATIONS BETWEEN US AND CHINA?
Washington has added six Chinese entities connected to Beijing’s suspected surveillance balloon program to an export blacklist.

The balloon dispute has delayed efforts by both sides to try to patch up frayed relations, although US President Joe Biden has also said that he does not believe ties between the two countries were weakened by the incident.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who postponed a planned trip to Beijing over the balloon, is considering meeting China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Munich this week, sources have said.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said later on Wednesday that communication with China had not stopped, but gave no details about any future high-level meetings.

“We hope when conditions make sense that we will be seeing each other face-to-face again. No announcements today,” she said. Sherman reiterated that China’s claims about US balloons were false.

“They have now said that there have been a gazillion balloons by the US over China. That is absolutely not true. There are no US government balloons over China,” she told an event at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

BIDEN MAY SPEAK ON BALLOONS

Meanwhile, Joe Biden and his team are considering him giving a speech soon to address issues around the high-altitude Chinese balloon and three other objects shot down by US fighter jets, Reuters quoted a source as saying on Wednesday.

The idea is for Biden to give the speech before departing early next week on a trip to Poland, the source was quoted on condition of anonymity.

Biden has been under pressure from lawmakers to speak more extensively about the spate of flyovers by unidentified objects, which have baffled many Americans.

He has made few public comments about the situation, leaving it up to White House officials to talk about it.