China accused the United States on Monday of flying balloons over

its territory, hitting back against Washington’s claims that Beijing

has been operating a fleet of surveillance aircraft around the
world.

The downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina
earlier this month prompted a bipartisan congressional resolution
condemning Beijing, while subsequent downings of other unidentified objects
over North America in recent days have sparked widespread jitters and
speculation as to their origins.

Only the first object has been officially attributed to China, with Beijing
insisting it was a civilian craft that had blown off course.

On Monday, China sought to turn the tables on Washington, accusing it of

having sent more than 10 balloons into its airspace since January 2022.

“It’s not uncommon as well for the United States to illegally enter the airspace
of other countries,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said during a
briefing.

“Since last year alone, US balloons have illegally flown above China more than
10 times without any approval from Chinese authorities.”

Asked how China responded to those alleged incursions, Wang said Beijing’s
“handling (of these incidents) was responsible and professional”.

“If you want to know more about US high-altitude balloons illegally entering
China’s airspace, I suggest you refer to the US side,” he added.

Over the weekend, Chinese state-affiliated media reported that an unidentified

flying object had been spotted off the country’s east coast — and that the
military was preparing to shoot it down.

Beijing on Monday declined to comment on that report, referring journalists

to the defence ministry, which did not respond to requests for comment
from AFP.

White House rebuts China’s claims

Meanwhile, the White House denied Beijing’s accusation that the US has been
sending balloons over China to conduct surveillance.
“Any claim that the US government operates surveillance balloons over the
PRC is false,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said
on Twitter, adding that it is the People’s Republic of China “that has a high-
altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection. “

Watching the skies

Americans have been watching the skies as a growing number of aerial
incursions are reported — all of which Beijing denied knowledge of on
Monday.

On Sunday, the Pentagon said it had not yet determined the nature of the
other three objects — one shot down Friday over Alaska, one on Saturday over
Canada’s Yukon territory, and the most recent one on Sunday over Lake
Huron.

But it said the object downed Sunday had been tracked for nearly a day and
did not resemble the alleged Chinese surveillance balloon that was destroyed
off the Atlantic coast on February 4 after traversing the country.

That first balloon prompted Washington to cancel a rare trip to Beijing by

State Secretary Antony Blinken.

US President Joe Biden ordered an F-16 fighter to shoot down the latest object
on Sunday “out of the abundance of caution”, a senior administration official
said.

The object was described by the official as an octagonal structure with strings
hanging off it.

Drifting at about 20,000 feet over Michigan, it could have posed a hazard to
civil aviation, the official said.

The US Northern Command’s General Glen VanHerck told reporters that after
aircraft were sent up to inspect the newest object, they concluded that there
was no indication of any threat, the same with the previous objects.

“What we are seeing is very, very small objects that produce a very, very low
radar cross-section,” he said.

He declined to describe the shape or size of the objects but said they were
travelling very slowly, around the speed of the wind.
Speculation as to what the objects may be has flared in recent days.

“I will let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure
that out,” VanHerck told reporters when asked if it was possible the objects
are aliens or extraterrestrials. “I haven’t ruled out anything at this point.