What is aerial espionage and how does the case of the Chinese balloon impact the relationship with the US 2:45
Hong Kong (CNN) --
China has accused the United States of "illegally" flying high-altitude balloons in its airspace more than 10 times since January 2022, as bilateral tensions flare over the downing of a Chinese balloon by China. US fighter jets after traveling across the continental US.
ANALYSIS |
The United States says that Xi Jinping did not know about the balloon.
That raises even more questions.
The accusation, made by China's Foreign Ministry without offering evidence, comes less than a day after China said it was preparing to shoot down an unidentified object flying near its east coast.
Rizhao is home to a deep-water port in east China's Shandong province.
(VCG/Visual China Group/Getty Images)
At a regular press conference on Monday, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said it is "common for American balloons to illegally enter other countries' airspace."
"Since last year alone, American high-altitude balloons have illegally crossed China's airspace more than 10 times without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities," Wang said.
It is not clear why China did not make these details public sooner, or if it responded to the alleged intrusions when they occurred.
Wang also accused the US of frequently sending warships and planes to carry out short-range reconnaissance against China, which he said totaled 657 times last year, and 64 times this January in the China Sea. Southern.
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Chinese spy balloon contained technology to monitor communication signals, US says
“For a long time, the US has abused its own technological advantages to carry out large-scale, indiscriminate wiretapping and theft of secrets from everyone, including its allies,” Wang said, adding that the US is “without doubt the world's largest surveillance habitual criminal and surveillance empire”.
Wang made the comments in response to a question about the Chinese entity that owned the balloon shot down by US warplanes on February 4.
The spokesman also criticized the US Commerce Department's decision on Friday to add six Chinese companies linked to the Chinese military's aerospace programs to its Entity List, barring them from obtaining US technology without government authorization.
“China is very unhappy with this and strongly opposes it.
We will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and institutions," Wang said.
He accused the United States of "exaggerating and magnifying" the situation and "using it as a pretext to illegally sanction Chinese companies and institutions."
Why are hot air balloons used as spy devices?
4:41
'Unidentified flying object' off China coast
Meanwhile, maritime authorities in China's Shandong province said on Sunday they detected an "unidentified flying object" above the waters near the port city of Rizhao and were "preparing to shoot it down," state media The Paper.
In a text message to the fishing boats, maritime authorities in the neighboring port city of Qingdao told crews to stay alert to avoid danger and help with debris recovery efforts if possible.
“If debris falls near your boat, help us take photos to collect evidence.
If conditions permit, help save it," Qingdao's Jimo District Marine Development Department said in the message quoted by The Paper.
The report did not specify what type of object it was, where it might have come from or how high it was flying.
No update had been provided by Chinese authorities and state media as of Monday afternoon local time, and it is unclear whether the object has already been shot down.
But while details remain scant, the unidentified object has sparked great interest on China's tightly controlled social media, generating hundreds of millions of views.
Many users followed state media reports on the US response to the Chinese balloon.
Sources told CNN the device was part of a fleet of Chinese surveillance balloons, which the US intelligence community began tracking last year.
So far, the US has detected suspected Chinese balloons in more than 40 countries on five continents, authorities said.
Beijing maintains that the device was a civilian research airship that went off course.
In stark contrast to the US, where the balloon sparked serious public concern, the issue became the topic of amusement on Chinese social media, with nationalists mocking the US for its response to a "weather" balloon.
ANALYSIS |
Biden's dramatic warning to China
China's Foreign Ministry accused the US of "overreacting" and "seriously violating international practice" in shooting down the Chinese balloon, while China's Defense Ministry said it "reserves the right to use the necessary means to deal with similar situations”.
On Sunday night, Chinese social media was on fire as many users waited for the object floating off China's coast to be shot down.
“Thanks to the demonstration made by the US, we must prominently report when we shoot down (the object),” said a prominent comment on Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform.
By Monday morning, the unidentified object had become the top trending topic on Weibo, with two related hashtags amassing more than 900 million views.
Many wondered, some with a sense of disappointment, why authorities had not released any updates on the shootdown.
US shoots down Chinese hot air balloon 2:39
“After waiting all night why still no exciting news?” asked one comment.
China's reported discovery of the unidentified object comes as the US and its allies intensify scrutiny over airborne objects in their airspace.
Since Friday, the US has shot down three unidentified objects over North American airspace, in the skies over Alaska, northern Canada and Lake Huron.
This is what we know about the unidentified objects that were shot down in North America
US defense officials have said these recent objects were not a "kinetic military threat" but could pose a safety hazard to civil aviation due to the altitude at which they were flying.
“In light of the PRC balloon we shot down last Saturday, we have been taking a closer look at our airspace at these altitudes, including upgrading our radar, which may explain, at least in part, the increase in objects that we detected over the past week,” said Melissa Dalton, Under Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs.
