White House official John Kirby denies US has flown balloons over China
Ryan King
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A senior U.S. official denied China’s accusations that the United States flew multiple balloons into its airspace over the past year.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby rejected the allegation and revealed that the U.S. has communicated with Chinese leaders in “private settings” about the balloon incidents.
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“Not true. Not doing it. Just absolutely not true,” Kirby told MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “We are not flying balloons over China.”
During a press conference Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin claimed the U.S. flew high-altitude balloons into their airspace over 10 times since the beginning of last year.
“Since last year, the U.S.’s high-altitude balloons have undergone more than 10 illegal flights into Chinese airspace without the approval of the relevant Chinese departments,” Wenbin said. “The first thing the U.S. needs to do is change its ways and reflect on itself, and not to smear and incite confrontation.”
Tensions have flared up between Beijing and Washington following revelations that a suspected Chinese high-altitude spy balloon drifted through U.S. airspace for days, starting on Jan. 28 and spanning until Feb. 4, when a fighter jet shot it down.
Beijing denied claims that the balloon was used for surveillance purposes and has been adamant the aircraft was used for civilian meteorological purposes — something on which the Pentagon has cast doubt. China also condemned the U.S. when it shot down the balloon off the Carolina coast earlier this month.
Military officials and prominent politicians have fretted that the balloon hovered over sensitive military outposts and may have collected sensitive information. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called off his planned diplomatic trip to China in response.
Over the past several days, the military has identified at least three unidentified objects hovering in the atmosphere, including one over Lake Huron, Alaska, and Canada’s Yukon territory. It is not immediately clear whether any of those objects had ties to China.
“These were much smaller, and they were announced Friday and Saturday,” Kirby added. “Yesterday’s was much lower at around 20,000 feet. So you can understand our concern with respect to civil air traffic there because most civil air traffic is somewhere around 30,000 feet.”
China also insinuated the U.S. flew balloons into other countries’ airspace but did not provide evidence to back up the assertion.
“How many spy balloons has the U.S. released into the world? In its heart, the U.S. knows very well,” Wang added during his press conference. “It’s clear to the entire international community who is the world’s largest spying and surveillance empire.”
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U.S. officials have similarly accused China of infiltrating foreign airspace, including recently over South America.
“They look really bad. And they’re not just doing the United States. This is a crew of balloons; we saw one in South America. They’ve probably been all over the world,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said over the weekend.