“Absurd and Hysterical”: China’s Top Diplomat Dismisses U.S. Response To Spy Balloon at the Munich Security Conference

Despite inflated tensions between the two nations—prompted by the U.S. shooting down a Chinese surveillance balloon—U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with China’s top foreign policy official Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference, according to NPR.

On Saturday, Wang Yi, criticized Biden’s decision to down the object, calling the response “absurd and hysterical” and an effort “to divert attention from its domestic problems.” He made the comments adding, “It is 100% an abuse of military force, and clearly violated international norms.” 

“We asked the United States to handle it calmly and professionally based on consultation with the Chinese side. Regrettably, the United States disregarded these facts and used advanced fighter jets and downed a balloon with its missiles.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Northern Command said in a statement on Friday that it recommended calling off the search for the objects shot down over Alaska on February 10 and over Lake Huron on February 12, after discovering “no debris.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin supported the recommendation, the statement added.

“The U.S. military, federal agencies, and Canadian partners conducted systematic searches of each area using a variety of capabilities, including airborne imagery and sensors, surface sensors and inspections, and subsurface scans, and did not locate debris,” the command said.

On Friday, the command issued a separate statement, explaining how it successfully “located and retrieved debris from the high-altitude PRC surveillance balloon shot down Feb. 4, 2023” off the Carolina coast.