The Chinese Embassy in Washington.. A stray balloon should not affect China-US relations

Washington-SANA

Charge d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Washington Xu Xueyuan said Wednesday that Washington's response to a Chinese unmanned civilian balloon unexpectedly entering US airspace was an overreaction, calling on the US side not to let bilateral relations deteriorate as a result of this isolated incident.

Xinhua quoted Xu as saying in an opinion article published in the Washington Post: “China has informed the United States of the nature of the accident, that the balloon was used for meteorological research, and unintentionally entered the airspace of the United States, and that it has a limited self-guiding ability.” After diligent verification and in the shortest possible time, we requested that the situation be dealt with in a calm and professional manner.”

Xu explained that the US side's overreaction by shooting down the balloon despite the fact that it did not pose a real security threat, and its moves to escalate the problem including claiming that China has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program targeting the world, and illegally imposing sanctions on 6 companies. And Chinese institutions exacerbated the situation, noting that this isolated incident caused new wounds to Chinese-US relations.

Xu added, “China supports more dialogue between the two countries at all levels. There was an important understanding reached between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden at their meeting in Bali three months ago, which is that China and the United States benefit from cooperation and lose. from confrontation.”

"We sincerely hope that the United States will work with China, not allow a stray balloon to derail bilateral relations, and look forward to concrete steps to prevent the situation from going down the wrong track, so that the relationship between China and the United States can be put back on track," Xu concluded. sound and stable development.”

At the beginning of February, the United States shot down a Chinese civilian balloon, to which Beijing responded by refusing Washington to use force to attack this unmanned balloon intended for civilian purposes, which entered American airspace by mistake due to strong winds, indicating that China will work resolutely to protect legitimate rights and interests. to the concerned company, and reserves the right to take further response actions if necessary.

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