China blasts ‘malicious’ US over response to balloon incursion

On Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said it will take measures against US entities related to the downing of the balloon, without giving details.

A fighter jet flies near a large balloon drifting above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina near Myrtle Beach, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. Minutes later, the balloon was struck by a missile from an F-22 fighter jet, ending its weeklong traverse over the U.S. China said the balloon was a weather research vessel blown off course, a claim rejected by U.S. officials. (Chad Fish via AP)

China has accused American legislators of trampling on the sovereignty of other nations after the US passed a measure condemning a suspected Chinese spy balloon’s intrusion into its air space.

The statement issued by the National People’s Congress’s Foreign Affairs Committee repeated Beijing’s insistence that the balloon was an unmanned civilian weather research airship, a claim the US has dismissed, citing its flight route and payload of surveillance equipment.