White House Disputes Beijing Claims of U.S. Balloons Over China

BEIJING/WASHINGTON – China claimed Monday that U.S. high elevation balloons have flown over its airspace unpermitted more than 10 times since 2022. This drew a swift deny from Washington.

China’s accusations have widened a dispute that started after the U.S. military. shot down On February 4, it stated that the Chinese spy balloon was seen, prompting Antony Blinken (top U.S. diplomat) to cancel a planned trip to Beijing in order to ease tensions.

The U.S. military has evolved significantly since then. shot down The Pentagon reported that three other flying objects were also seen over North America. Most recently, an octagonal object was shot down over Lake Huron on Sunday.

“The U.S. high-altitude balloons at the highest altitude have seen more than 10 percent increase in their performance since last year.” Illegal flights “In Chinese airspace without approval from the relevant Chinese departments,” Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, stated in Beijing during a regular briefing to answer a question.

Wang did not specify whether the balloons were used for military or intelligence purposes and didn’t provide any additional details.

China’s accusation was quickly dismissed by the White House. Adrienne Watson, National Security Council spokesperson, dismissed it as Beijing trying to damage control.

“Any claim that the U.S. government operates surveillance balloons over the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is false,” She made the statement in a statement.

“It is China that has a high altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, connected to the People’s Liberation Army, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the United States and over 40 countries across five continents.”

China has not offered to provide “any credible explanations” She added that she was sorry for the intrusions.

John Kirby, a national security spokesperson, spoke to MSNBC earlier in an interview. “Just absolutely not true. We are not flying balloons over China.”

The U.S. Defense Department didn’t respond to a request to comment.

China asserts that it shot down a Chinese surveillance ballon off the coast of South Carolina, on February 4, after it had been drifting across the continent for several days.

China claimed the balloon was a civilian craft for research and that it had miscalculatedly gone off course. The United States was accused of being overreacting.

Wang from the Chinese foreign ministry stated that he didn’t have any information regarding the United States’ latest three objects.

Gregory Poling, an Indo-Pacific maritime security expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said he was not aware of any U.S. use of balloons for surveillance, although he added “I suspect none of us would know for sure.”

He stated that China regards Taiwan’s airspace, which it claims is part of Japan’s territory, as its own territorial airspace.

Reporting by Martin Quin Pollard, Trevor Hunnicutt and Doina Chiacu in Beijing; Writing by Tony Munroe. Editing by Alex Richardson Sharon Singleton and Nick Zieminski.

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