China accuses US of flying balloons in its airspace
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wembin during a press conference on February 13, 2023. AP - Liu Zheng
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1 min
The balloon soap opera continues to fuel tension between Washington and Beijing.
This Monday, it is China's turn to accuse the United States of having "
illegally
" flown balloons in its airspace.
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With our correspondent in Beijing,
Stéphane Lagarde
Chinese diplomacy has not provided any evidence to support its accusations, but the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is formal.
"
It often happens that American balloons illegally enter the airspace of other countries,"
Wang Wembin said Monday afternoon to the press.
Since last year alone, high-altitude US balloons have illegally flown over Chinese airspace more than 10 times without approval from relevant Chinese authorities.
»
Alert near Rizhao Port
These statements come the day after an alert concerning an unidentified flying object spotted near the port of Rizhao on the eastern coast of the country.
Authorities in Shandong province said they were "
preparing to shoot him down
", sparking some excitement on the networks.
Since more news, but the balloon saga is closely followed by Internet users.
The declarations of this afternoon arriving at the top of the subjects consulted on the search engines.
“
For a very long time, the United States has abused its own technological advantages to carry out large-scale and indiscriminate telephone tapping
(…)
including of its allies
”, added the senior diplomat who also mentioned the sending 657 US warships and planes for close reconnaissance of China last year.
No reaction from the American side
For the moment, there has been no reaction to these accusations on the American side.
The United States, which claims to have detected Chinese balloons in more than 40 countries on five continents.
►Also read: The US military shoots down a fourth flying “object” in ten days
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