Beijing: China has denounced US President Joe Biden's decision to send a cutting-edge F-22 stealth fighter jet into action on Saturday to shoot down a Chinese high altitude balloon after it had crossed the entire US territory as a "obvious overreaction" and a "serious violation of international practise."
China's Foreign Ministry released a statement on Sunday morning protesting the US use of force to attack civilian unmanned airships, as the US military sent a salvage vessel to recover the debris that landed in shallow waters about 6 nautical miles off the coast of South Carolina.
The relevant company's legal rights and interests will be steadfastly upheld by China, which also reserves the right to respond with additional measures, the ministry said.
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Prior to the Pentagon's initial public admission that it had been "tracking" the suspicious craft on Wednesday, President Biden claimed he had wanted to shoot the balloon down at first. Defense officials allegedly persuaded him to wait until it was "safe" for people on the ground, despite flying over numerous "sensitive" military locations at a height of about 18 kilometres, by asserting that it posed no threat to national security (60,000 feet).
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After the "successful" air-to-air missile strike that brought the balloon down above US territorial waters on Saturday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin accused China of using it "in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States."
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China has maintained that the entire time that it was "a civilian airship used for research, primarily meteorological purposes," and that it allegedly veered off course due to "force majeure."
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was compelled to cancel a trip to Beijing because of the incident, which he described as "a clear violation of US sovereignty." China retorted that no such visit had ever been agreed upon.