China says accusations from the US that a downed Chinese balloon was part of an extensive surveillance program amount to "information warfare against China".
- China insists the large unmanned balloon was a civilian meteorological airship that had blown off course
- US officials have dismissed China's claims
- The US had briefed dozens of countries on China's program
This comes after the Pentagon said the Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast on Saturday was part of a program involving a number of such airships that China has been operating for "several years."
On Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning repeated China's insistence that the large unmanned balloon was a civilian meteorological airship that had accidentally blown off course and that the US had "overreacted" by shooting it down.
"It is irresponsible," she said.
She said the latest accusations "may be part of the US side's information warfare against China".
China's defence minister refused to take a phone call from US defence secretary Lloyd Austin to discuss the balloon issue on Saturday, the Pentagon said.
China has also not answered questions as to what government department or company the balloon belonged to, or how it planned to follow up on a pledge to take further action over the matter.
US officials have dismissed China's claims and agents from the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are cataloguing debris recovered from the ocean and transporting it for further processing.
When similar balloons passed over US territory on four occasions during the Trump and Biden administrations, the US did not immediately identify them as Chinese surveillance balloons, Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder said.
But he said "subsequent intelligence analysis" allowed the US to confirm they were part of a Chinese spying effort and learn "a lot more" about the program.
"I can assure you this was not for civilian purposes … We are 100 per cent clear about that," he said.
Top administration officials were briefing members of Congress on the Chinese balloon surveillance program in classified sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled a visit to Beijing planned for this week in the wake of the incident, dealing a setback to efforts at arresting a further deterioration of bilateral relations that have spiralled to their lowest level in decades.
He said the US had briefed dozens of countries on the program, which officials said has been active over five continents.
"The United States was not the only target," he said at a news conference with visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
Mr Blinken said he and Mr Stoltenberg had spoken about the "systemic and tactical challenges" that China poses to the alliance and the importance of combating them.
China's Commerce Ministry said Thursday it welcomed a proposed visit by US treasury secretary Janet Yellen, saying, "It's very important for both sides to maintain normal communication".
AP