U.S. shoots down claim that American balloons have been soaring over China
China claimed on Monday that the United States has sent at least 10 unsanctioned balloons over Chinese airspace since last year, describing the U.S. the world’s largest “surveillance empire.” Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, denied the allegation.
“Any claim that the U.S. government operates surveillance balloons over the PRC is false,” she tweeted. “It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents.”
Any claim that the US government operates surveillance balloons over the PRC is false. It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents. https://t.co/VzPceB6JUh
— Adrienne Watson (@NSC_Spox) February 13, 2023
“This is the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control,” Watson added. “It has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the U.S. was a weather balloon and has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace, airspace of others.”John Kirby of the NSC denied it later on Monday. “Not true, not doing it,” he said. “Just absolutely not true.” [Continue reading…]