Biden calls China's balloon spying 'violation of international law'

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The US Navy recovering the downed balloon

Photo: --- / dpa

A little over a week ago, US authorities discovered a balloon in their airspace - the object turned out to be a spy balloon from China.

The US shot down the balloon.

Now he has been investigated – and US President Joe Biden is angry about the alleged espionage made in China.

The incident does not represent a major security breach, but it is "absolutely a violation of international law - it is our airspace," Biden said in an interview with Telemundo.

Referring to the launch of the balloon, he added: "And once it got into our airspace, we could do whatever we wanted with it."

The US House of Representatives also unanimously and impartially condemned China's espionage with an observation balloon.

It was a "brazen violation" of US sovereignty, according to a resolution passed on Thursday.

The Congress Chamber also denounced China's intention to mislead the international community with false claims.

The text sends a clear, bipartisan message to Beijing that this type of "aggression" will not be tolerated, said Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul.

»Aggression« vs. »Overreaction«

The balloon has further strained the already strained relations between the two countries.

The US military shot down the balloon on Saturday off the coast of the state of South Carolina over the Atlantic after it had crossed the United States from the northwest.

The US government accuses China of using it to spy on military facilities.

Beijing, on the other hand, spoke of a civil research balloon primarily for meteorological purposes.

This was off course, the launch an "overreaction".

According to the US government, China has targeted more than 40 countries on five continents with a fleet of spy balloons.

The equipment in the downed balloon was "clearly used for intelligence surveillance," it was later said.

The US State Department said the balloon that was shot down had "multiple antennas" and was believed to be able to "collect and locate communications."

mrc/dpa