Chinese ‘spy balloons’ row: Amid the soaring tension between China and the United States over the hovering of alleged spy balloons, Beijing has now claimed Washington of breaching its airspace at least ten times in the past 13 months. According to China, the US high-altitude balloons illegally flew over Chinese airspace on more than 10 occasions without the approval of the relevant Chinese authorities. 

The latest remarks from China came a day after the US fighter jet shot down an “unidentified object” over Lake Huron. 

While addressing a regular press conference on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the actions taken by the US reflected its own behaviour and added the Pentagon should look into its own actions instead of slandering, smearing and provoking confrontation. Although he did not comment on the latest Lake Huron incident but termed it an overreaction by US officials. 

“The US has the world’s largest surveillance network” 

Furthermore, he claimed that Washington has the world’s largest surveillance network and added the US has abused its technological advances against several countries. 

“For a long time, the US has abused its technological advantages carrying out large-scale indiscriminate clandestine operations and stealing of secrets across the world, including its allies, violating the sovereignty and interests of other countries and regions, and violating the international law and basic norms of international relations,” Global Times quoted Wang as saying during the presser. 

“The US is the world’s largest surveillance country & owns the largest spy network in the world. The US knows how many spy airships they have released and the international community knows clearly who the world’s largest spy empire is,” Global Times quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“Over 700 US flights conduct close-in reconnaissance on China”

He maintained that the Pentagon has sent aircraft and warships to conduct close-in reconnaissance on China, with 657 flights in 2022 and 64 flights in the South China Sea in January this year alone. According to Wang, the US action jeopardizes China’s national security and undermines regional peace and stability. Also, he alleged that the hovering of US spy balloons is common and added the world should respond to its unlawful activities.  

Chinese ‘spy balloons’ row

It is worth mentioning an alleged Chinese “spy balloon” was detected hovering over the skies of the United States in the first week of this month, resulting in soaring tension between the two nations. Although Beijing accepted that the giant balloon was taken off from its territory but refuted the claims of sending spy equipment to the US. Instead, it termed the helium balloon a “weather data collector” and added it was floated towards the US by the flow of wind. 

Also Read: Did China send US-like ‘spy balloons’ on India too? DETAILS

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