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Alleged espionage: Balloon over Latin America also comes from China

Alleged espionage: Balloon over Latin America also comes from China

After the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, China sees serious damage to relations. The overflight was by no means an isolated case.

The balloon affair with China is spreading. After the spectacular launch of a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the US coast, the State Department in Beijing admitted that another balloon discovered over Colombia also came from China.

Similar to the balloon incident over the United States, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the weather and limited control options caused him to inadvertently enter the airspace of Latin American countries during an “attempt to fly”. China informed the countries.

China had previously intensified its criticism of the US for launching the balloon. In protest, the State Department summoned the chargé d’affaires of the US embassy in Beijing. Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said at Sunday’s meeting that the US has made efforts and progress on both sides to stabilize ties since China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden met in November, the foreign ministry said , “seriously impaired and damaged”.

Beijing: We reserve the right to respond as necessary

The penetration of the balloon was only an “accident” that happened due to “force majeure”. “The facts are clear and cannot be twisted.” Despite this, the US had “played deaf” and insisted on “abusing force against a civilian airship that was about to leave US airspace”. It was an “obvious overreaction” and violated “the spirit of international law and international norms”. The Chinese government reserves the right to respond as necessary.

The United States shot down the balloon, which had been flying over the United States for days, with a rocket on Sunday off the Atlantic coast of South Carolina. China has been accused of using the balloon to spy on important military installations. The government in Beijing, on the other hand, spoke of a civilian research balloon that had drifted far off course due to the westerly wind drift and insufficient navigation. The same justification has now been adopted for the balloon over Latin America.

United States evaluate rubble

After the balloon was shot down over the USA, the debris was recovered. The Federal Police FBI is involved in the evaluation. The wreckage lay about 11 kilometers offshore in relatively shallow water. Divers are already on site.

The United States hopes the investigation will shed light on the technical capabilities of the balloon. According to US President Biden, he ordered the balloon to be shot down “as soon as possible” on Wednesday. A risk for the people on the ground should be excluded. It was therefore decided to take the flying object out of the sky over the sea.

Several US Republicans sharply criticized Biden’s actions. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina wrote on Twitter: “Now that this embarrassing episode is over we need answers from the Biden administration about the decision-making process. Communist China has been allowed to violate American sovereignty unhindered for days. We must wait for future provocations and abuses China’s better prepared.” On February 15, the Senate is to be briefed in a secret session.

The incident also caused concern in Germany

In Germany, the federal government reacted with concern to the more tense situation between the USA and China. “We hope that the incident will not lead to further tensions or an escalation in the American-Chinese relationship,” said deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner in Berlin. The reports of the balloon flying over and being shot down were noted with concern. There are no own findings on the matter and possible backgrounds.

SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich said in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”: “That worries us a lot – including me personally, because I think we have to be careful that another major international conflict does not arise here.”

The SPD foreign policy expert Michael Roth rated the balloon and the heated debate about it in the USA as a “foretaste of the escalating conflict between China and the USA in the coming years”. The launch of the balloon was correct, said the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag of the editorial network Germany (RND). However, Biden was under massive pressure from the Republicans, who wanted to discredit him as weak in foreign policy. At the same time, China’s President Xi Jinping has been pursuing an expansive foreign policy for years, the SPD politician explained. “That makes managing relationships more and more difficult.”

The CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen expressed the expectation that the balloon dispute would only briefly affect the relationship between China and the USA. “In my view, it is a Chinese glitch that nevertheless required an American response,” Röttgen told RND. “However, I assume that this will not allow either side to be diverted from their planned course any longer than necessary. And this consists of not being completely speechless in the pronounced power struggle between the two sides.”

Source: Stern

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