China’s Foreign Ministry announced today, Sunday, that it expressed strong dissatisfaction and objection 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 was being used for spying and being watched over North America, accusing the United States of “overreacting and seriously violating international practice.”
“accept necessary answers”
“China expresses its strong indignation and protest against the use of force by the United States to attack a civilian unmanned balloon,” she said, stressing that she “reserves the right to take further necessary action.”
Beijing’s condemnation came hours after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that a US Northern Command fighter jet shot down a Chinese reconnaissance balloon at the direction of President Joe Biden on Saturday that was flying at high altitude over the Atlantic Ocean. coast of South Carolina.
fell into the ocean
Austin added in a statement released by the Defense Department that the operation to shoot down the suspected spy balloon took place in US airspace and that the balloon fell in US territorial waters.
At the same time, the statement said that Biden gave permission 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 path of the balloon.
after providing #Biden Green light to aim #Atlantic Ocean Away from populated areas. #USA Chinese hot air balloon falling.. and #Pentagon Reveals: Fly Over US Secret Sites#Arab pic.twitter.com/HZ70ESJmIn
– Arabic (@AlArabiya) February 4, 2023
Re-opening of airspace
At the same time, the US Federal Aviation Administration announced the reopening of airspace after the airship was shot down.
The administration said on its Twitter account that flights have resumed to and from Wilmington, Myrtle Beach International and Charleston International airports, with airspace reopening elsewhere and normal operations resuming.
Debris removal work continues
In this regard, a US official told CNN that work is underway off the coast of South Carolina to search for the wreckage of the airship.
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand later said that her country was “actively involved” with the United States in the decision to shoot down the Chinese balloon.
The Canadian government’s statement quoted the minister as saying that her country “unreservedly supports the measures taken” in the process of shooting down the balloon.
