Spy row balloon is ours and doesn’t belong to America, says China

The foreign ministry in Beijing made its claim to ownership as the US military continued its search for debris after shooting it down over the weekend

China again insisted that it was a civilian balloon as Washington said it had ‘no intention or plan’ of returning the wreckage

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The US has recovered debris off the coat of South Carolina after the Chinese “spy balloon” was shot down over the weekend. Photo: US Navy via EPA-EFE

Published: 9:44pm, 7 Feb 2023Updated: 2:05am, 8 Feb 2023

China has told the United States the balloon it shot down last weekend “does not belong to America” as the search for debris in the Atlantic continued.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning made the comments during a scheduled press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, adding that the balloon “is Chinese”. She said: “The Chinese government will continue to resolutely defend its legitimate rights and interests.”

Mao was responding to US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby’s remarks that the US had no “intention or plan” to return the wreckage of the alleged spy balloon, parts of which were pulled out of the water on Tuesday.

Mao repeated Beijing’s position that the balloon is used for civilian purposes and had entered US airspace by accident, and insisted it “did not pose any threat to American lives or national security”.

“The US side should have handled such incidents properly in a calm, professional and peaceful manner, but their insistence on using force is clearly an overreaction,” she said.

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon from US territorial waters off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, after it was downed by the United States over the weekend. Photo: US Navy via Reuters

The row over the balloon prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pull out of a planned visit to China this week.