China not only denied accusations of espionage, but also lashed out at Washington on Monday, claiming that at least 10 US balloons entered Chinese airspace 'without any approval' over the last year.
The White House responded Monday to growing and at times fevered speculation over the shooting down of unidentified aerial objects by saying the targets could be anything from commercial craft to espionage devices, while denying that US balloons spy on China.
China not only denied this, calling the huge balloon an errant weather research craft, but lashed out at Washington on Monday, claiming that at least 10 US balloons entered Chinese airspace"without any approval" over the last year. As for another high-altitude balloon spotted in Latin America, China says that was a civilian flight test device.
The other three unidentified objects — shot down on Friday over Alaska, Saturday over the Yukon in Canada, and Sunday over Lake Huron on the US-Canadian border — so far present a greater challenge. Whether they were spying also remains unknown."Even if we have no indications that any of these three objects were surveilling, we couldn’t rule that out," he said."Because we haven't been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are, we acted out of an abundance of caution.
The diplomatic fallout has already been substantial, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly canceling a rare visit to Beijing.
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