The unmanned Chinese airship that entered US airspace was “completely an accident caused by force majeure, and the facts are very clear,” a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced he would postpone his upcoming visit to China in response to the incident.
The foreign ministry spokesperson said maintaining “contact and communication at all levels” was an important consensus of the Bali meeting between the heads of China and the United States, a reference to the three-hour meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November.
The spokesperson affirmed the Chinese narrative about the suspected spy balloon, saying the unmanned airship strayed into US airspace “due to force majeure.”
China has “checked and provided feedback to the US side,” the spokesperson said.
“The airship is of civil nature and is used for scientific research such as meteorology. Affected by the westerly wind and its own control ability is limited, the airship seriously deviated from the scheduled route” the spokesperson said.
Repeating earlier comments, the spokesperson added: “China has always strictly abided by international law, respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, and has never intentionally and never violated the territory and airspace of any sovereign country. Some politicians and media in the United States took advantage of the issue to attack and discredit China. China firmly opposes it.”
Some background: The Pentagon earlier on Friday flatly denied the Chinese government’s claim that the balloon serves a civilian research purpose, saying that the US knows it is a “surveillance balloon.”
