US plans not to return balloon debris to China

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Photo Credit: IMAGO/Joe Granita/ IMAGO/ZUMA Wire

After the downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, the US does not plan to return the debris to China.

"I am not aware of any intention or plans to return it," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday.

He stressed that the United States would hope to learn more about the balloon by examining the recovered parts.

The overflight of the balloon over the United States had caused a stir, outrage and new tensions between Washington and Beijing in the past few days.

US President Joe Biden finally had the balloon shot down by a warplane over the Atlantic on the US east coast on Saturday when the balloon was no longer over the mainland.

The rubble is now being salvaged.

Kirby said the emergency services had already recovered the first parts from the sea surface.

Because of the weather conditions, however, diving is difficult.

But specialists "would be able to go down there and get a better look at what's on the ocean floor in the coming days," Kirby said.

The debris field is "quite large".

China has said it was a civilian meteorological balloon that went off course.

On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing said the shooting down had "seriously affected and damaged" relations between the People's Republic and the United States.

The United States, on the other hand, has repeatedly confirmed that it was a Chinese espionage balloon.

The US government still wants to avoid a conflict with China.

Kirby clarified that they acted in accordance with international law to launch the balloon over US territory.

The US would have defended their airspace and their country.

There is no reason to let the tensions in bilateral relations between the two countries slide into conflict.

dop/AFP/dpa