As U.S. Searches for Spy Balloon Remnants, China Urges Restraint

By Yew Lun Tuan and David Lawder

BEIJING/WASHINGTON – Monday saw Washington urging Beijing to be more restrained as it searched for any remnants of the U.S. surveillance balloon that was shot over the Atlantic by China. China believes it was a civilian craft which accidentally drifted out of control.

Tense relations have been further strained by the balloon drama, which led Washington to cancel Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned weekend visit to Beijing.

The U.S. military tracked the path of the balloon across the United States and had sent a response from China. A fighter jet flew down the American aircraft that shot down the balloon over South Carolina. “obvious overreaction”.

China repeatedly claimed that the balloon was meant for scientific purposes, and that it had blown off course.

“China firmly opposes and strongly protests against this,” XieFeng, Vice Foreign Minister, made the remarks to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. These comments are posted on the ministry’s website.

The U.S. Navy was working with the Coast Guard to secure the operation.

The United States could gain insight into China’s spying abilities if the balloon is recovered successfully, but officials in the United States have minimized its impact on national security.

Mao Ning, spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, stated Monday that China discovered its balloon drifted above the United States after it was notified.

“The unintended entry of this airship (into the U.S.) is entirely an isolated, accidental incident. It tests the sincerity the U.S. has in improving and stabilising bilateral relations and the way it handles crisis,” She said.

“We hope the U.S. will work with China to properly handle our differences, avoid miscalculation and misunderstanding and harming our mutual trust,” She said.

Mao stated that another balloon was spotted above Latin America and was an unmanned civilian flightship in a test flight. “severely deviated and unintendedly entered the space above Latin America because it was affected by the weather and because it has limited self-steering capability”.

Colombia’s military reported on Sunday that it had sighted an object similar in appearance to a balloon. This was after the Pentagon claimed Friday that another Chinese balloon was hovering over Latin America.

SENSITIVE TIME

The China-U.S. relations are at an all-time high after the balloon incident.

China has warned “serious repercussions” It said that it would use all the available resources to handle the matter. “similar situations”Without going into detail, some analysts stated that they expected any response to be precise and calibrated to avoid making bilateral ties worse.

Brokerage ING stated in a Monday note, that the incident could exacerbate “tech war” It would have a negative impact on China’s yuan currency in the near term.

“Both sides will likely impose more export bans on technology in different industries. This is a new threat to supply chain disruption, although the risk of logistical disruption from COVID restrictions has now disappeared,” It said.

“This new risk is more of a long-term risk than an imminent one,” ING.

The yuan gained strength on Monday, after it fell to 6.8077 against USD in early trade. It was at its weakest point in almost a whole month.

(Reporting done by Kanishka Sing, Gram Slattery, Andy Sullivan in Washington and Yew Lun Tian; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Nick Macfie.