The People’s Republic of China criticized the United States on Monday for the nation’s recent actions to protect its airspace.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Monday about the numerous planes shot down over the United States after the destruction of an unmanned Chinese surveillance balloon earlier this month.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin attends a regular news conference on May 24, 2022 in Beijing. (VCG via Getty Images)
“We have clarified several times that the entry of the Chinese civilian unmanned airship into US airspace was a purely unintentional, unexpected and isolated event caused by force majeure,” Wang said.
However, Wang could not provide any information on whether any of the recently shot down planes belonged to China, saying, “As for the ‘unidentified objects’ you asked about, I have nothing about them.”
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Flightradar24 animation of the flight path taken by the US Air Force jet that shot down the unidentified object on February 10, 2023. (Flightradar24)
The Department of Foreign Affairs has been highly critical of the US government’s handling of the situation in recent weeks, accusing government officials of making a show of a delicate situation.
“We must stress, however, that the United States’ downing of the unmanned airship with advanced missiles is a trigger-happy overreaction,” Wang continued. “Many in the United States have asked ‘what good could such a costly action do to the United States and its taxpayers?'”
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Wang was pushed further on the issue by another reporter who asked if China was denying any connection to the unidentified objects. The official quickly cut off the line of inquiry.
FBI Special Agents assigned to the Evidence Response Team process material recovered from the high-altitude balloon recovered off the coast of South Carolina. The material was processed and transported to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia . (FBI)
“As I just said, I have nothing about it. We believe irresponsible comments should not be made when there is no clear evidence. And we are absolutely against made-up stories and slander against China,” Wang said.
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The first ship was shot down over Alaska on Friday, nearly a week since the military shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. The balloon had criss-crossed the continental United States for days before finally being shot down by the US Air Force.
The second was pulled down on Saturday over the Canadian province of Yukon with the approval of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after being monitored by both countries for 24 hours.
The third object was shot down Sunday over Lake Huron in the Great Lakes region.
Brandon Gillespie of Fox News contributed to this report.
