China blasts US over hysterical balloon claim | News

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Chinese FM Wang Yi describes Washington’s use of a missile to shoot down the balloon as unbelievable.

China’s top diplomat has accused the United States of violating international norms with hysterical behavior as a spit on a suspected Chinese spy balloon surfaced at a global security conference in Munich.

Addressing a gathering of world leaders at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Wang Yi said President Joe Bidens’ administration had a misperception of Beijing.

And he accused the United States of trying to smear the Asian giant as it itself implemented policies contrary to its paradigms such as free trade.

To have sent an advanced fighter jet to shoot down a balloon with a missile, such behavior is unbelievable, almost hysterical, Wang said.

There are many balloons from many countries in the sky. Do you want to get all of them down? Wang asked.

We urge the United States not to do such absurd things just to distract from its own domestic problems.

Washington has been on high alert since a huge white balloon from China was spotted over a series of top-secret nuclear weapons sites, before being shot down just off the east coast on February 4.

Beijing denies using spy balloons and claims the craft was intended for weather research. Subsequently, he accused Washington of sending its own spy balloons to its territory, which the United States denied.

The row led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a rare visit to China.

With Blinken also in Munich for the conference, all eyes are on whether both parties succeed in arranging a meeting.

But when asked if he was planning a caucus with the US delegation, Wang reacted combatively.

Washington, he said, had a mistaken view of China as a serious geopolitical challenge and threat to the United States.

This is a misperception of China and with this perception, the United States is using all its means to smear and suppress China, and co-opting other countries to do the same, he said.

Wang accused the US instead of 100% protectionism, 100% selfishness, 100% unilateral action in its own economic policies like the Chips Act.

We hope the US side will adopt a pragmatic and proactive attitude towards China and work with China to put our bilateral relations back on the path of healthy development, he added.

Don’t make the same mistake

After four years of adversarial relations with China under his predecessor Donald Trump, US President Joe Biden has made it a priority to restore relations with Beijing, which he describes as Washington’s biggest competitor.

But tensions erupted last year after Nancy Pelosi, then leader of the US House of Representatives, visited Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island claimed by Beijing.

This project could be tested again soon, with the arrival of a senior Pentagon official in Taiwan for a visit, according to a Financial Times report on Friday.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also led Western powers to be wary of relations between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who claim to be friends.

Also in Munich, US Vice President Kamala Harris stressed that the United States was troubled by the fact that Beijing had deepened its relations with Moscow since the start of the war.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Beijing is watching closely the price Russia pays or the reward it receives for its aggression.

What is happening in Europe today could happen in East Asia tomorrow, he warned.

Stoltenberg also said Moscow’s incursion revealed the dangers of Europe’s overreliance on authoritarian regimes and should serve as a lesson as the continent shapes its relationship with Beijing.

We must not make the same mistake with China and other authoritarian regimes, he warned.

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