Never violated territory, airspace of any sovereign country: China

Following US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's announcement of postponing a visit to China after a Chinese 'spy balloon' was tracked flying across the United States, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Sunday that Beijing has no intention to violate and has never violated the territory or airspace of any sovereign country.

The ministry added that regarding the unintended entry of a Chinese unmanned airship into US airspace due to force majeure, the Chinese side has verified it and communicated it to the US side.

“It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. This is entirely an unexpected situation caused by force majeure and the facts are very clear,” the statement furthered.

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The foreign ministry also said that China always acts in strict accordance with international law and respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.

The statement added that “some politicians and media in the US have hyped it up to attack and smear China,” adding that the Chinese side is firmly opposed to that.

While responding to a question regarding the postponement of Blinken’s visit to China, the ministry stressed the need to maintain contact and communication at all levels. However, it added that neither side had ever announced that there would be a visit.

In a separate development, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi had a phone call with Blinken.

During the call, the two sides communicated how to handle occasional individual cases in a calm and professional manner.

“China will not accept any groundless conjecture or hype. In the face of unexpected situations, what both sides should do is to maintain steadiness, communicate in time, avoid misjudgment and manage differences,” Wang reportedly said during the call.

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Chinese spy balloon

The controversy erupted earlier this week when American officials said they were tracking a large Chinese "surveillance balloon" in US skies.

That led Blinken on Friday to scrap a rare trip to Beijing designed to contain rising US-China tensions.

Beijing admitted ownership of the "airship," but said it was a civilian weather balloon that had been blown off course and that it "regrets" the episode.

A day earlier, the US shot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floated off the country's southeastern coast.

But after Saturday's operation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed China's "strong dissatisfaction and protests against the use of force by the United States to attack the unmanned civilian airship."