US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has asked to speak with his Chinese counterpart after it was shot down by an F-22 fighter jet days after flying in US airspace.
The US has contacted China over what Washington called a “spy” balloon and the Beijing weather balloon that was shot down on February 4, after the Pentagon rejected repeated requests for dialogue for several days, a US official said on Sunday. Ministry of Defense.
“Contacts have been made with the DPRK regarding the issue of the high-altitude balloon,” Deputy Defense Secretary Melissa Dalton told reporters, using the acronym for the official name People’s Republic of China.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has asked to speak with his Chinese counterpart after it was shot down by an F-22 fighter jet days after flying in US airspace.
The request initially went unfulfilled: Beijing denounced Washington’s “irresponsible” and “excessive” decision to shoot down what it described as a balloon used for scientific purposes, “mainly meteorological.”
“This irresponsible and wrong action did not create a climate conducive to dialogue and exchanges between the two militaries,” the Chinese Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
“The US insisted on using force against a Chinese civilian balloon, which is against (…) international practices and sets a bad precedent,” according to the same source.
Ms. Dalton declined to go into detail about the talks that took place between the two sides.
Yesterday, Sunday, Washington announced that another high-altitude “object” had been shot down, without specifying its nature. It was the fourth shot down over the US and Canada in less than ten days.
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