China: We reserve the right to respond to America’s shooting down of the balloon

China’s Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday that it has expressed its strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the use of force by the United States to attack its airship.

Beijing also criticized the Pentagon’s decision to shoot down a Chinese balloon that Washington suspects is for espionage purposes and which has been monitored over North America, accusing the United States of “reacting in excessively and seriously violate international practices”.

“Give the necessary answers”

He said, “China expresses strong indignation and protests against the use of force by the United States to attack the civilian unmanned balloon,” stressing that it “reserves the right to give further necessary responses.”

Beijing’s complaint came a few hours after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that a fighter jet of the US Northern Command had shot down the Chinese reconnaissance balloon, which was flying at high altitude, on Saturday, on the instructions of President Joe Biden. over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina.

fell into the ocean

Austin added, in a statement issued by the Ministry of Defense, that the operation to shoot down the balloon suspected of espionage took place in US airspace and that the balloon fell in US territorial waters.

While the press release said that Biden had given the authorization to shoot down the balloon as soon as it was possible to complete the mission without risking the lives of Americans on the ground in the trajectory of the balloon.

Reopening of the airspace

At the same time, the US Federal Aviation Administration announced the reopening of the airspace after the downing of the airship.

The administration said on its Twitter account that flights have resumed to and from Wilmington, Myrtle Beach International and Charleston International airports, with airspace elsewhere reopening and normal operations resuming.

Efforts to recover the wreck continue

In context, a US official told CNN that they are in ongoing efforts to recover the wreck of the airship off the coast of South Carolina.

Later, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said her country “was closely involved” with the United States in the decision to shoot down the Chinese balloon.

A Canadian government statement quoted the minister as saying his country “unequivocally supported the steps taken” in the process of shooting down the balloon.