China threatens retaliation for U.S. "overreaction" in shooting down spy balloon
The Chinese Communist Party insists that it was all about the "crash of a civilian aircraft" and warned that the act "will have repercussions."
The People's Republic of China accused the Biden Administration of "overreacting" by shooting down the spy balloon flying over U.S. soil. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement reiterating that it was a meteorological research aircraft and accused the U.S. of committing "a serious violation of international practice" by using "force to attack unmanned civilian aircraft." China's authorities warned that they reserve "the right to make further reactions" in response to what they consider as an aggression.
The communist government's official statement said "China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of relevant companies, while reserving the right to make further necessary reactions." In addition, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied that Secretary of State Blinken had a scheduled visit to China, insinuating that the Biden Administration was lying in order to offer a more forceful response. "Actually, the U.S. and China have never announced any visit, whether the U.S. makes such an announcement is their business, and we respect that," the statement read.
China denies that Blinken had plans to travel there
This is not the only mockery the incident has caused about American "weakness." People online have been reiterating the official position of the communist leaders and accused the US of exaggerating the situation. There was no shortage of jokes about the country's weakness, which could not even defend against a harmless balloon. From the most belligerent positions of Chinese nationalism, they directly taunted their only great rival on the international playing field.
After several days of analyzing the flight of the balloon, the Pentagon rejected Beijing's excuses, pointing out that the type of objects referred to by China does not have the same characteristics, equipment, or even the flight range of the object that was eventually shot down. However, experts downplayed the relevance of the information that the Communist Party was able to obtain through this device, which would be the same as what they can get through their satellites, especially since security measures were taken as the flight progressed.