(CNSNews.com) – China’s top diplomat offered no apology over a suspected spy balloon that traversed U.S. airspace for almost a week, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said that he made clear during a weekend meeting with Wang Yi that “this must not happen again.”
Wang derided the U.S. decision to shoot down the balloon off the Atlantic coast early this month, calling it “absurd and hysterical,” an abuse of the use of force, a likely violation of international norms and conventions, and an attempt to “divert attention from domestic problems.”
In appearances on three Sunday talk shows, Blinken declined to say what Wang had told him when they met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. But he confirmed that China had not apologized for the incident.
“I don’t want to characterize what he said,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I don’t think that would be appropriate. Although I can tell you, no, there was no apology.”
Blinken said he did have the opportunity “to speak very clearly and very directly about the fact that China sent a surveillance balloon over our territory violating our sovereignty, violating international law.”
“And I told him quite simply that that was unacceptable and can never happen again.”
Blinken repeated an earlier assertion that China’s spy balloon program has violated the sovereignty of dozens of countries in addition to the U.S.
“China’s used these surveillance balloons over more than 40 countries across five continents,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“So one of the things I’m hearing here in Munich is real concern about the surveillance balloon program. I suspect the fact that it’s been exposed by us is going to have to cause China to take another look at this.”
Attempt to ‘divert attention from domestic problems’
Wang heads the foreign affairs commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, a position more senior that of foreign minister in the Chinese one-party state.
During a question-and-answer segment after delivering a speech at the conference, he was not only unapologetic, but scathing about the U.S. claims and actions.
Wang repeated Beijing’s claim that the balloon was a “civilian” airship with limited steering capability that had inadvertently been blown off course and over North American airspace.
“We asked the United States to handle it calmly and professionally based on consultation with the Chinese side,” he said through an interpreter. “Regrettably, the United States disregards these facts and used advanced fighter jets and downed a balloon with its missiles.”
“This is, I would say, absurd and hysterical. This is 100 percent abuse of the use of force. It is a violation of international customary practice,” he said.
Wang said many balloon launched by different countries were floating across the globe. “Do you want to down each and every one of them?”
Shooting down the Chinese balloon was a sign of weakness, not strength, he said.
“We urge the United States not to do such preposterous things simply to divert attention from domestic problems.”
In an editorial Sunday the China Daily, a CCP paper, said that despite Wang’s “patient” efforts to explain the balloon issue, Blinken had “absurdly” told U.S. media outlets afterwards that China offered no apology – “showing the extent to which Washington lives in a cocoon of its own false perceptions and narratives.”
“If a blown-off-course weather balloon requires an ‘apology,’ then what does the U.S. side have to offer for the ugly roles it has been playing in hindering the peaceful reunification of Taiwan with the motherland, and its attempts to foster unrest in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet?” it asked, citing major irritants in bilateral relations.
Four shootdowns
The suspected spy balloon floated through Canadian and U.S. airspace for a full week before the U.S. Air Force used a Sidewinder missile to shoot it down after it moved across the South Carolina coastline and over the ocean on February 4.
The Pentagon rejected China’s claims about the nature of the balloon and its purportedly accidental route, saying the path taken over highly-sensitive military installations – including nuclear facilities – pointed to a deliberate intelligence-gathering effort (an effort which it says it was able to mitigate). Recovered debris is still undergoing analysis.
The Biden administration took flak from Republican lawmakers over the decision not to shoot it down earlier – before it entered U.S. airspace near Alaska’s Aleutian islands.
The administration said the Pentagon had recommended waiting until the object was over sea due to concern about the risks posed to Americans on the ground from the falling debris. It also said close observation had provided the opportunity to learn more about China’s surveillance methods and program.
Within ten days of downing the balloon the Air Force, having adjusted radar settings to track high-altitude, slow-moving craft, shot down at President Biden’s direction three such “objects,” over remote northern Alaska, northwestern Canada, and Lake Huron.
“Nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” Biden said on Thursday, after coming under fire for days for not addressing the issue publicly.
National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told a briefing on Friday that no-one has yet formally claimed ownership of the downed objects. Debris recovery efforts continue, in challenging environments.