“The United States should first reflect on itself and change course, rather than slander, discredit or incite confrontation,” Wang said.
The comments come after a U.S. fighter jet shot down another unknown object flying off the coast of Alaska on Friday. U.S. and Canadian officials then said a U.S. fighter jet shot down an unidentified object in Canadian airspace on Saturday. A fourth object was shot down over Lake Huron Sunday afternoon.
Asked if any of the other objects downed by the U.S. military had come from China, Wang declined to answer, noting only that “irresponsible remarks should not be made without clear evidence.”
Beijing has repeatedly said that the balloon discovered over the United States in late January was a civilian Chinese airship for scientific research gone astray. Wang’s remarks on Monday underline Beijing’s hardening tone to an incident that has derailed months of efforts to repair worsening U.S.-China ties.
After the initial discovery of the balloon in late January, Beijing admitted the airship was Chinese and expressed “regret” that it had blown off course. When Washington canceled a visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in response to the balloon, Beijing restricted blame to “some politicians and media” in the United States for “hyping” the incident.
Beijing’s tone has since become even more defensive. After a U.S. F-22 Raptor downed the airship, China claimed it was the United States that had broken with international norms by “using force.” On Monday, Wang accused the United States of being the world’s largest “surveillance empire.”
The Shanghai-based outlet The Paper reported on Sunday that an unidentified object was seen flying over Qingdao and that authorities were preparing to shoot it down.
Pei-Lin Wu contributed to this report.
*This story has not been edited by The Infallible staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.
