China accused the United States of lying to the world after the House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution condemning Beijing’s remarks about its balloon being shot down over the United States.
“China is very dissatisfied with this and strongly opposes it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said during a daily briefing, accusing US lawmakers of “hyping” the balloon for “purely political manipulation.”
The statement came a day after Republicans and Democrats joined in a 419-0 vote to condemn Beijing for a “blatant violation” of US sovereignty and efforts to “deceive the international community through false claims about their intelligence-gathering campaigns.”
House Republicans criticized the Biden administration for failing to act sooner to shoot down the plane as it flew from Montana to South Carolina, even though the military said it disabled its surveillance capabilities.
After the balloon was detected, the Chinese government claimed that it was a civilian meteorological object blown off course.
The United States also claimed the balloon was linked to a major surveillance program run by the Chinese military, which includes the use of similar balloons in more than 40 countries under the direction of the People’s Liberation Army.
A State Department official said the manufacturer of the balloons has “a direct relationship with the Chinese military and is a supplier to the military.”
An F-22 shot it down with a single A9X missile off the territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina. The first remains of him were sent to an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.
