Beijing: Amid the ongoing controversy over ‘spy’ balloons, Beijing has now alleged that since January 2022, United States balloons have flown over China’s airspace “more than 10 times”. United States. “It is also not uncommon for the US to illegally enter other countries’ airspace,” Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said during a briefing. from the Chinese authorities,” he said.
Asked how China responded to those alleged incursions, Wang said Beijing’s handling “(of these incidents) was responsible and professional.” side,” he said.
It may be recalled that ties between the US and China had strained in recent weeks in the wake of Washington’s decision in early February to shoot down an alleged spy balloon, which Beijing insisted was for civilian purposes. was for.
Several other such devices have since been shot down over the United States and Canada, although Beijing has only acknowledged that the first was its own. Meanwhile, a UFO-like object was seen over the water near Qingdao and Chinese officials were preparing to shoot it down, The Paper reported.
An employee of the Maritime Development Authority of Qingdao Jimo District said that “relevant authorities” were preparing to take the object down, The Paper reported. The employee said that according to news reports, fishermen in the area have been asked to be mindful of safety. The development comes after the US and Canada shot down three high-altitude aerial objects in the recent past.
An American fighter jet, acting on orders from US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, shot down another unidentified flying object on Saturday.
“I have ordered the removal of an unidentified object violating Canadian airspace,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement on Twitter. He said a US F-22 with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is jointly operated by the United States and Canada, successfully fired upon the object over the Yukon.
Trudeau also said that he spoke to US President Biden on Saturday afternoon. “The Canadian military will now recover and analyze the debris of the object,” he said in his Twitter post, “thanks to NORAD for keeping an eye on North America.”
Meanwhile, the White House issued a statement saying that Biden and Trudeau had “discussed the importance of recovering the object to determine more details on its purpose or origin.”
The White House confirmed on Friday (local time) that the US has shot down a second ‘high altitude object’ over Alaska. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Defense Department shot down a “high-altitude object” in Alaskan airspace over the past 24 hours.
Last week, US military fighter jets shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had been flying in its skies for days.