The Pentagon sought a phone call between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart on Saturday after the United States shot down China’s spy balloon, but the offer was rejected, officials said Tuesday.
“Lines between our military are especially important at times like this. Unfortunately, the PRC has declined our request. Our efforts to open lines of communication will continue,” said Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder he said in a statement.
An F-22 fighter jet shot down the 200-foot-tall Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday afternoon, about a week after it was detected over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.
China was initially conciliatory about the balloon, stating on February 3 before it was shot down that “the Chinese side regrets the inadvertent entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure.”
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After the spy airship was destroyed by a Sidewinder missile on Saturday, Chinese officials took a more aggressive stance.
“The United States should have properly handled such incidents in a calm and professional manner without the use of force, but it decided to do otherwise, which is a clear overreaction,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said on Tuesday. .
“The airship does not belong to the United States. It belongs to China.”
US forces recover debris from downed Chinese surveillance balloon. (US Fleet Forces)
The balloon, which weighed 2,000 pounds and had a payload roughly the size of an airliner, created a shallow-water debris field approximately 1,500 yards by 1,500 yards.
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Navy and Coast Guard vessels collected and classified the debris before shipping it to FBI Processing Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, to be analysed.
The Chinese embassy in the United States did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
