(TheRedWire.com) – The White House dismissed accusations by the Chinese government that the U.S. has had spy balloons infiltrate the country’s airspace. The tension between the two countries continues to grow following the U.S. decision to shoot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was flying across the U.S.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC that the accusations coming from China were completely untrue and that there were no balloons being flown over the country.
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson similarly dismissed the claim by writing on Twitter that the claims about U.S. balloons flying over China were “false.” Watson added that it was China that had a “high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection” which has been used to “violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents.”
On Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin during a briefing claimed that there had been more than 10 high-altitude balloons that had flown into China’s airspace without prior authorization from the relevant Chinese departments.
Wang did not say how China handled these balloons, nor whether or not they were connected to the U.S. government.
China over the past week has repeatedly claimed that the Biden administration had overreacted by shooting down the balloon. They have also claimed that it was a civilian weather balloon that had drifted off its course and that it posed no danger to the U.S.
However, the U.S. has maintained that this is not the first time China has flown such balloons over the country for surveillance purposes.
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