US balloons entered airspace ‘more than 10 times’ since 2022: China

BEIJING: Washington flew balloons into China´s airspace more than 10 times since January 2022, Beijing said on Monday, after an alleged Chinese surveillance craft was shot down over the United States.

Relations between the US and China have soured in recent weeks in the wake of Washington´s decision to shoot down the alleged spy craft in early February, which Beijing has insisted was for civilian purposes.

A number of other such devices have since been shot down over the United States and Canada, though Beijing has only admitted that the first was one of its own. And on Monday China accused the US of sending over 10 balloons into its airspace since January 2022.

“It´s not uncommon as well for the US to illegally enter the airspace of other countries,” foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a briefing. “Since last year alone, US balloons have illegally flown above China more than 10 times without any approval from Chinese authorities,” he added.

Asked how China responded to those alleged incursions, Wang said Beijing´s “handling (of these incidents) was responsible and professional”. “If you want to know more about US high-altitude balloons illegally entering China´s airspace, I suggest you refer to the US side,” he added.

“Any claim that the US government operates surveillance balloons over the PRC is false,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said on Twitter.“It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon programme for intelligence collection, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents.”

The State Department responded with a similar rejection. It called Beijing´s accusation “the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control,” and said the communist government “has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace.”

Over the weekend, Chinese state-affiliated media reported that an unidentified flying object had been spotted off the country´s east coast -- and that the military was preparing to shoot it down.

Beijing declined to comment on that report, referring journalists to the defence ministry, which did not respond to requests for comment from AFP.Americans have been watching the skies as a growing number of aerial incursions are reported.