China inflates its rage
Threatens ‘countermeasures’ vs. U.S. over balloon
Tensions continued to soar Wednesday over the U.S. shooting down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, with China threatening to “take countermeasures.”
China contends its balloon was being used for meteorological research, not spying, and had blown off course. A U.S. fighter jet downed the balloon near the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4, which China characterized as an overreaction.
“China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures in accordance with the law against the relevant U.S. entities that undermine China’s sovereignty and security,” Wang Wenbin, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Wednesday.
The statement comes two days after Wang claimed there have been more than 10 sightings of U.S. balloons in Chinese airspace since last year, which the U.S. denies.
Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said he doesn’t consider the balloon to be “an isolated incident,” citing China illegally operating police stations in countries including the U.S.
“You don’t open police stations in other countries ignorant of their laws as if your laws don’t have any boundaries,” Emanuel said Wednesday.
The U.S. has shot down three unidentified objects over North
America since the Chinese balloon. It downed one over Alaska on Friday, another over Canada’s Yukon on Saturday and a third over Lake Huron on Sunday.
Officials haven’t determined the origins of those objects. White House national security spokesman John Kirby defended the decision to down the objects, saying Monday they could have been dangerous to civilian air travelers.
“These were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interests of the American people,” Kirby said.