Chinese state media has accused the US of using the recent incident involving a suspected Chinese spy balloon as a political ploy to enflame tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Beijing mouthpiece the China Daily made the sensational claim in a scathing editorial published Wednesday – one which charged that Joe Biden and his administration have ‘overreacted’ to the incident, and used it to their benefit.
The piece, titled Paranoia spurs China-bashers to dramatize balloon incident into a Hollywood blockbuster, points to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s planned visit to the country as proof of this supposed ploy, along with its recent cancellation.
Blinken, who was due to depart for Beijing on Friday, said at a press conference that the high-altitude surveillance craft seen flying over the continental United States near South Carolina ‘created the conditions that undermine the purpose of the trip.’
Beijing, meanwhile, has issued the following, chilling statement in reply, saying it ‘reserves the right to make further responses if necessary.’
Chinese state media has accused the US of using the recent incident involving a suspected Chinese spy balloon as a political ploy to enflame tensions between Washington and Beijing
The piece points to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned visit to the country as proof of the supposed ploy, along with its recent cancellation
‘China has strongly protested at the shooting down of its meteorological balloon that had strayed into US airspace,’ the piece’s opening line reads, adding that the aircraft strayed into US airspace ‘completely accidentally.’
The article goes on to reiterate Beijing’s official stance on the purpose of the South Carolina balloon, which is that it used for meteorological purposes and that its entry into US airspace was unintended.
‘A US military fighter jet shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it first entered US airspace,’ it reads, before referencing the China’s Foreign Ministry’s official response to the incident.
China on Saturday night slammed Joe Biden’s decision to shoot down the aircraft as both a ‘clear overreaction’ and a ‘serious violation of international practice’
The agency on Saturday night slammed the US’ decision to shoot down the aircraft as both a ‘clear overreaction’ and a ‘serious violation of international practice.’
‘China clearly asked the US to handle this properly in a calm, professional and restrained manner,’ the piece continued. ‘The US has insisted on using force, obviously overreacting.’
The article went on to claim that the US ‘is using the incident to justify’ the postponement of Blinken’s planned visit, charging that the balloon is ‘an excuse, not the cause of the postponement.’
‘The true cause,’ the piece alleges, ‘lies in US domestic politics.’
Defense officials estimated the balloon was about the size of three buses at a height of 120 feet, and that the debris field would be substantial, estimated at seven miles when it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday
The op-ed would go on to paint a picture of supposed inner-turmoil currently transpiring the US, one the Beijing-backed paper charged is brought on by various bipartisan quarrels.
To hit this point home, the Daily cited how Biden issued an order as early as Wednesday to take down the balloon, when it was spotted hovering over states like Montana, but that the US eventually elected to wait to shoot down the suspected spy craft until Saturday when it was over the Atlantic, on the advice of the Pentagon.
‘Republican opponents in Congress still argue he failed to act quickly enough,’ the op-ed charges. ‘That reflects the struggle between the two parties, and how public demonstrations of which party is tougher on China has become part of their feuding.’
It’s this division, the article charges, along with the US’ fueling of the prospective animosity, that has prevented the ‘world’s largest developed country from bettering relations with the world’s largest developing country.’
The piece goes on to claim: ‘By hyping up the balloon as being “a massive surveillance balloon”, US media outlets have provided the excuse for that political animosity toward China to be intensified’.
Meanwhile, it added, ‘the two parties are already jockeying for position with their eyes on the presidential election in 2024.
The piece comes on the heels of the Beijing’s Foreign Ministry’s own disapproving response to Biden’s decision to shoot down the balloon – an act its Foreign Ministry deemed a ‘clear overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.’
‘The Chinese side has, after verification, repeatedly informed the U.S. side of the civilian nature of the airship and conveyed that its entry into the U.S. due to force majeure was totally unexpected,’ the Ministry said.
Beijing had already warned that America’s decision to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon that hovered over U.S. nuclear silos was a ‘clear overreaction’ and to prepare for ‘responses’
‘The Chinese side has clearly asked the U.S. side to properly handle the matter in a calm, professional and restrained manner,’ it added.
‘The spokesperson of the U.S. Department of Defense also noted that the balloon does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.
‘Under such circumstances, the U.S. use of force is a clear overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.
‘China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company concerned, and reserves the right to make further responses if necessary.’
An F-22 Raptor fighter jet took down the balloon with a single AIM-9X sidewinder missile at 2.38pm on Saturday, off the coast of South Carolina.
