China lodges complaint with US over balloon downing

 
INA-sources
 

China lodged a formal diplomatic complaint with the US representative in Beijing on Sunday after Washington shot down its balloon, saying the action would “seriously hamper” the progress that has been made on stabilising bilateral ties.

The foreign ministry statement issued on Monday morning said foreign affairs vice-minister Xie Feng lodged “solemn representations” to the US embassy in Beijing on behalf of the Chinese government after the civilian airship was “attacked” by US forces.

“What the US has done has seriously affected and damaged both sides’ efforts and progress in stabilising China-US relations since the Bali meeting,” Xie said, referring to talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden during the Group of 20 summit in November.
 
“China resolutely opposes and strongly protests this and urges the US not to take further actions that harm China’s interests, and not to escalate or expand the tensions.”
 
Xie criticised the US move as an “overreaction”, echoing previous statements by Beijing defending its claim that the balloon had accidentally entered US airspace. He also stressed that China reserved the right to “make further necessary reactions”.
The US dispatched an F-22 fighter jet to take down the Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday after it flew across the US mainland last week.
 
The balloon saga prompted the postponement of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China, originally scheduled for Sunday. The trip was seen as a significant step towards stabilising ties following the meeting between the leaders in November.
The US military is currently working to recover the debris of the balloon, which US intelligence believes was used to spy on strategic sites, including nuclear facilities.
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi told Blinken in a phone call on Saturday that China rejected any “groundless speculation and hype” and called on the US to avoid “misjudgments” as both sides handle the incident.
 
Source: South China Morning Post