China on Friday accused the United States Congress of “dramatizing” the Chinese spy balloon incident after the House of Representatives unanimously approved a resolution to condemn China for it.
H. Res. 104 condemns the “Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory” and labeled the situation “a brazen violation of United States sovereignty.”
“An event like this, Mr. Speaker, must not happen again. And it cannot go unanswered,” Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), a sponsor of the resolution, said on the House floor. “They only understand one thing, and that is force, and that’s projecting power, and we need to project power and force and strength against the Chinese Communist Party.”
However, China did not take kindly to the resolution, with one official accusing the U.S. of “dramatizing the whole thing.”
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters at a press conference that “The U.S. Congress’s resolution is purely about scoring political points and dramatizing the whole thing.”
“China deplores it and firmly opposes it,” Ning added.
She also told reporters that she does “not have the information” regarding what equipment was in the balloon after reiterating China’s claim that the it was merely a weather monitoring device that veered off its path due to unforeseen natural causes.
“The Chinese side has repeatedly shared information and stated its position on the unintended entry of the unmanned Chinese civilian airship into US airspace due to force majeure,” Ning said.
A recent Trafalgar Group/Convention of States Project poll conducted this week found that 63.4 percent think that “the crisis was mishandled” or “should have been dealt with sooner,” while only 36.6 percent think the Biden administration “appropriately” handled the situation.
Additionally, 58.8 percent agree that “Biden should have taken quicker action to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon before it even entered U.S. sovereign airspace,” and 59.2 percent also feel that Biden’s handling of the Chinese spy balloon made “America look weak” on the world stage.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.
