The unmanned Chinese language airship that entered US airspace was “utterly an accident brought on by power majeure, and the information are very clear,” a spokesperson for China’s International Ministry mentioned Saturday.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken introduced he would postpone his upcoming go to to China in response to the incident.
The overseas ministry spokesperson mentioned sustaining “contact and communication in any respect ranges” was an necessary consensus of the Bali assembly between the heads of China and the USA, a reference to the three-hour meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese language President Xi Jinping in November.
The spokesperson affirmed the Chinese language narrative concerning the suspected spy balloon, saying the unmanned airship strayed into US airspace “attributable to power majeure.”
China has “checked and supplied suggestions to the US aspect,” the spokesperson mentioned.
“The airship is of civil nature and is used for scientific analysis equivalent to meteorology. Affected by the westerly wind and its personal management capability is proscribed, the airship critically deviated from the scheduled route” the spokesperson mentioned.
Repeating earlier feedback, the spokesperson added: “China has all the time strictly abided by worldwide legislation, revered the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all international locations, and has by no means deliberately and by no means violated the territory and airspace of any sovereign nation. Some politicians and media in the USA took benefit of the difficulty to assault and discredit China. China firmly opposes it.”
Some background: The Pentagon earlier on Friday flatly denied the Chinese government’s claim that the balloon serves a civilian analysis objective, saying that the US is aware of it’s a “surveillance balloon.”
