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US President Joe Biden said he will speak with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about the alleged Chinese surveillance balloon that entered US airspace and was shot down on February 4. Although he said that he does not want “a new Cold War,” he also said that he will not apologize for the takedown.
The US president said he had scheduled to speak with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the Chinese balloon that spent several days in US airspace earlier this month.
US authorities They accused China of having sent a surveillance balloon to spy on Washington’s military programs and shot down the balloon on February 4. China, for its part, claimed that it was a balloon for metrological research purposes that arrived inadvertently in the United States due to the winds.
Joe Biden stated that he will not apologize for bringing down the balloon.
“I hope to speak with President Xi and I want to get to the bottom of this matter. But I am not going to apologize for bringing down that balloon,” the president said in an appearance before the press at the White House.
Biden also warned that he will not hesitate to shoot down any flying object in his territory whenever it represents a threat to the country. However, he assured that he does not want to enter a new conflictive era with China.
“We don’t want a new Cold War” and “we will continue to talk to China,” he said.
After the balloon had been shot down, three other aerial objects were shot down, but these were not identified. According to US authorities, these latest flying objects do not appear to have any link to the Chinese ‘spy balloon’. US intelligence believes they were “probably balloons linked to private companies, recreational institutions” or scientific research.
The legal justification cited for the shootdowns of the three objects is that they were flying between 20,000 and 40,000 feet and could have posed a risk to civilian aircraft.
After speculation about the nature of these objects on social networks, the White House had to indicate on Monday that there were no indications of “aliens or extraterrestrial activity.”
Increased regulations on aerial objects
Joe Biden announced Thursday that the United States was developing “more precise standards” to track, monitor, and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects. He asked national security adviser Jake Sullivan to lead an “interagency team” on this issue.
Biden explained that he hoped the new rules would help “distinguish between those who are likely to pose security risks that require action and those who do not.”
The US president said the rules would remain classified so as not to “give a road map to our enemies to try to bypass our defenses.”
Finally, Biden strongly criticized China’s surveillance program, saying it sent a “clear message” and that “the violation of (his) sovereignty was unacceptable.”
Biden and Xi met for the first time as presidents last year at the G20 in Bali amid ongoing tensions between the two great economic superpowers.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China was expected earlier this year. A meeting to relax relations between the two nations, but which ended up being postponed when the balloon was discovered. Since then, a new meeting with his Chinese counterpart has not yet been scheduled.
With EFE and AP