The US balloons violated airspace at least ten times, China claims

• Chinese authorities claimes US balloons have illegally flown above China without any approval.
• The accusation comes after the US fired down a suspected spy balloon.
• The US fired down a suspected spy balloon above its territory on February 4.

The US has sent balloons into Chinese airspace more than 10 times in the last year, according to China’s foreign ministry.

The accusation comes after the US fired down a suspected spy balloon above its territory on February 4, which China claimed was a civilian balloon.

Since then, relations between the two countries have deteriorated. The US claims to have shot down a number of other unexplained objects in recent days.

When questioned on Monday, Beijing stated that the US had violated airspace numerous times.

“It’s not uncommon as well for the US to illegally enter the airspace of other countries,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin at a regular press briefing.

“Since last year alone, US balloons have illegally flown above China more than 10 times without any approval from Chinese authorities.

“The first thing the US side should do is start with a clean slate, undergo some self-reflection, instead of smearing and accusing China,” he added.

He claimed that Beijing has reacted to the invasions in a “responsible and professional” manner.

“If you want to know more about US high-altitude balloons illegally entering China’s airspace, I suggest you refer to the US side,” he said.

Washington has yet to respond to Beijing’s charges.

Following the first balloon incident, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned trip to Beijing. China‘s alleged high-altitude espionage is “unacceptable and reckless,” according to the top diplomat.

On Sunday, the US authorized the downing of an unmanned “octagonal structure” near the Canadian border in Michigan; this was the fourth item taken out in eight days.

Smaller unidentified objects were also shot down by fighter aircraft over Alaska on February 10 and northern Canada on February 11.

Mr. Wang stated he had “no understanding of [these other objects]”.

“But what we want to tell everyone here is that the US’ frequent firing of advanced missiles used to strike down unidentified flying objects is an overreaction of excessive force,” he said.

A US military commander, General Glen VanHerck, said that there was no indication of any threat from the latest object.

He said it could be a “gaseous type of balloon” or “some type of a propulsion system”, adding he could not rule out that the objects were extra-terrestrials.

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