An unidentified flying object has been detected over waters near the northern Chinese port city of Qingdao, the Shanghai newspaper The Paper reported Sunday, adding that authorities were in the process of shooting it down.
The Qingdao Marine Development Department sent a message to fishing boats to stay alert and avoid risks, the newspaper said, without saying when exactly the object was sighted.
The United States and Canada have shot down three aerial objects this month, including one that Washington said was deliberately sent by China for surveillance. Beijing responded that it was a harmless weather monitoring device that had gone out of its way.
The Chinese balloon shot down last week passed over Billings, Montana, home to a military base with intercontinental ballistic missile silos.
On Friday (10), a second high-altitude object flying over US territory was shot down. According to the US government, the item, which passed through the state of Alaska, was detected on Thursday night (9) and was flying at an altitude of 12 km – therefore, it posed risks to civil aviation.
This Saturday (11), in a joint effort, the United States and Canada shot down another flying object that was flying over the Yukon, in northern Canada.
The cases heightened already heightened tensions between China and the United States and resulted in the postponement of the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, responsible for US diplomacy, to Beijing.
A series of recent episodes has contributed to deteriorating Sino-US relations. The expansion of the US military presence in Southeast Asia, criticized by the Chinese, for example, happens simultaneously with China’s threats against Taiwan, an island that Beijing considers a rebel province and which, therefore, should be integrated into its mainland.
Already on Thursday (9), the government of China classified Biden’s speeches as ′′ totally irresponsible ′′ about Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “Can you think of any other world leaders who would trade places with Xi Jinping? It’s not a joke. I can’t think of any,” the US president said in an interview with PBS NewsHour. “This man has huge problems. He also has a lot of potential, but so far his economy is not working very well.”
On the same day, China is said to have declined a call from US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He wanted to speak with his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, after the first balloon was shot down. Beijing justified the decision by saying that the measure was irresponsible and did not create a climate “conducive to dialogue”.
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