Beijing: The US military shot down an air balloon off the east coast of America on Saturday, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry has asked that the Biden administration return the balloon's fragments because it "belongs to China."

During a press conference on Tuesday, a question regarding whether Beijing had requested the return of the balloon debris was directed to ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning. The airship is not US property, she declared. "It is China's property."

Ning made her remarks three days after a US fighter jet shot down a balloon off the coast of South Carolina that American officials claimed was a spying airship. Biden came under heavy fire for letting the balloon cross the continent, fly over a nuclear missile installation, and pass over other important military facilities before bringing it down.

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The balloon, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, was a civilian meteorological research airship that was accidentally blown off course and entered US airspace on Friday. Ning claimed that some American politicians and media outlets "hyped" the incident in order to "attack and smear China," but she refrained from going into further detail on Tuesday.

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The unmanned airship has been the subject of multiple communications from the Chinese side, according to Ning. "At this time, I have nothing to add." She continued by saying that the US government overreacted to an incident that posed no security threat and did not put any Americans in danger, failing to act in a "calm and professional manner."

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Republican US Senator from Montana Steve Daines conjectured that Chinese officials may have sent the balloon across North America to assess Washington's response. Daines said to Fox News on Monday, "This was really more of a trial balloon by the Chinese." Biden was "indecisive," he continued, which implied weakness. It was precisely what the Chinese desired to occur.